2,500 took part in an online challenge with 70% ending the game in the money, reports JASON LOW

The winners: Students of Temasek Junior College, which won the top JC prize with the highest combined portfolio value, with Mr Iswaran

Indeed, a record number of youths took the opportunity to start their investing journey recently through a nationwide online stock challenge organised specially for them.

This online stock challenge, jointly organised by ICube and a local securities firm, saw 2,500 participants from local junior colleges, polytechnics and universities pitting their investing skills against one another on an online trading platform using real-time pricing from the Singapore Exchange.

ICube, a collaboration between the three investment clubs from NUS, NTU and SMU, had organised the event in the hope of inculcating financial literacy and stirring financial interest among Singapore youths.

'ICube has always been proactive in promoting financial literacy among Singaporean youths and this event gave us a timely opportunity to reach out to the entire cross section of tertiary student population,' says Jacky Xu, co-chairman of ICube and president of the NTU Investment Interactive Club.

'We are simply delighted with the overwhelming response of more than 2,500 participants which far exceeded our initial target of 1,500 participants,' he said.

The online stock challenge which concluded on Jan 12, 2007, saw a total volume of 350 billion shares, valued at about $45 billion, exchanging hands during the 15-day paper trading period.

Almost 70 per cent of the participants who took part in the largest student-led stocks and warrants trading competition ended the game in the money.

This is no mean feat, considering some of the participants were as young as age 16.

'Even though the recent bull run was a factor in inflating the portfolios of most participants, we cannot discount the wise and decisive strategies taken by these budding investors,' says Chua Beng Huat, co-chairman of ICube and president of NUS Investment Group.

Indeed, for Wang Cheng Wee, the JC category winner from Anderson Junior College, it was disciplined trading that won her the game. 'I stuck closely to my original strategy of taking profit on small price changes and compounding them into large gains,' she says. 'Using simple technical analysis, I looked out for particular stocks breaking out and rode on them.'

The other big winner in the JC category was Temasek Junior College (TJC), winning the top JC prize with the highest combined portfolio value.

'At TJC, we are extremely pleased that our students are forthcoming in such meaningful enrichment activities,' said Lee Lee Fong, deputy head of economics at TJC.

'This stock challenge proved to be very beneficial to our students as it gave them the chance to enhance their financial literacy and interact with students from other colleges, university undergraduates and professors from the various institutions.'

For the winner of the Open Category, Tan Boon Long, an accountancy undergraduate from NTU Nanyang Business School, the stock challenge was a game of emotions. 'Trading during the game has been an emotional affair for me as I had to decide when to correctly cut loss and take profit without letting my emotions get the better of me,' he said.

'This game has trained me to better control my emotions when I trade in the real world,' Mr Tan added.

The organisers of the event hope to prepare this large group of budding investors for real world investing by providing them with a safe and risk-free environment to train and try out their own formulated trading strategies.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran was the guest at the closing ceremony of the event held recently.

'This is a very good sign, and I hope that this general level of interest continues to grow amongst the students,' Mr Iswaran said. 'I hope this experience has whetted your appetite to learn more about financial markets and its instruments, and to adopt an investment culture as part of your life.'

Mr Iswaran also had some invaluable advice for the young budding investors: 'Take a proactive approach towards financial planning and take control of your financial future from the very outset of your working lives.'

From the response of all the participants interviewed by BT, the event proved to be a very rewarding and enriching one.

'The experience from this game has provided me with greater impetus to be more financially literate and aware of market developments,' Benjamin Ng, a business undergraduate at NUS, said.

'I plan to start investing in the real world after this pleasant experience and start delving into in-depth researching of some of the listed companies.'

It is indeed heartening to see so many young budding investors becoming increasingly well informed about financial matters. It certainly augurs well for Singapore's future as a financial hub with this pool of financially savvy youths.