We've had the irrational exuberance and the painful correction, followed by the tapering off and the summer doldrums. World equity markets have provided non-stop entertainment and some serious lessons to retail investors over this past year, but do Irish dabblers have the courage or the faith to stick the pace in the coming quarter?

There are signs that activity is picking up in the private client divisions of the main stockbrokers. Summer is traditionally a quiet time but, according to brokers, the autumn revival has been noticeable in the last few weeks as people return to their desks. Fairly positive coverage of recovery prospects for the markets and recent increased activity in the technology sector have whetted investors' appetites for action.

There also tends to be a fair amount of corporate activity at this time of year with a flow of news from results and mergers and acquisitions which gets the big institutions moving. The small money is never far behind the big money.

The level of knowledge among retail investors has become much more advanced, according to Mr Tony McCarthy of Goodbody Stockbrokers. There are many clients who invest in the sector they work in and they are very well informed, he says.

Several local factors are driving the recent attraction to equities. Low deposit rates coupled with high inflation have made it pretty pointless to leave cash on deposit. High-profile flotations - most remarkably of all, the Eircom experience - have raised equity awareness and drawn in huge numbers of first-time investors.

BCP stockbrokers has noticed a major swing in interest towards the US equity market, and more than half of its new private client business is now going across the Atlantic.

The number of clients interested in investing in Europe has gone up dramatically, according to Mr Angus McDonnell, managing partner of Bloxham Stockbrokers. "There has been a definite switch and a lot of fresh money is going to Europe," he said.

All Irish stockbrokers agree that interest in the Irish market is still waning as private clients follow the lead of the institutional investors in rebalancing their portfolios. Until very recently the benchmark for activity here would have been the big Irish financials but now it's more likely to be a successful technology company.

Technology-heavy markets like the Nasdaq, the Neuer Markt and Techmark offer retail investors the potential for big gains but the risks are correspondingly greater because these markets are more volatile.

The main stockbrokers' rates for private clients are roughly in line with each other, with the cheapest advisory and executive service offered by Campbell O'Connor. It has a minimum fee of £20 (€25.39) and charges a commission of 1.5 per cent on the first £7,000 invested, 0.55 per cent on the next £8,000 and 0.5 per cent on the balance.

Fexco is the only execution-only service but has been closed to new business since the end of last year. Fexco, which has 23,000 clients on its books, is hoping to open for new business again before the end of the year.

There are some investors who are confident enough to carry out their own trading on the Internet and there is a clear saving to be made on commission rates with the likes of Charles Schwabb, Scottrade and Datalink.

But you can get caught on the execution price and unless you know exactly what you are doing your lack of expertise will be a handicap.