Wellington, Oct 12 NZPA - On-line trading platform provider IG Markets is hoping to have 1000 active clients in New Zealand within a year.

The listed British company has been in Australia since 2002 and is now expanding into New Zealand where rival CMC Markets is already operating.

Investors effectively receive the difference in the price of a share, or share index, via so called contracts for difference, which are traded on-line. Shares are never owned during the transaction.

IG Market's DMA technology also provides online trading of forex and commodities. The company is offering NZ dollar denominated contracts on commodities and indices.

"You can trade gold, oil, the Dow the FTSE in New Zealand dollars," Tamas Szabo, IG Markets' chief executive, Australia and New Zealand.

He said there had been huge increase of around 65 percent in the number of clients trading CFD products in Australia in the last year.

IG Markets started in 1974 and has grown as broadband coverage increased.

"People are becoming more comfortable with watching their positions online and trading on-line, rather than phoning up a stock broker, buying some shares and putting the certificates under the mattress," he said.

IG Markets' client base is young, with an average age in the 30s.

"These are people who do not give their money to other people to manage or buy shares and forget about them," he said.

Mr Szabo said some people make a living as traders using these products.

He rejected the suggestion that CFDs are a form of gambling.

"It is not actually technically gambling, although it is a high risk investment. We discourage anyone who has an uncomfortable risk attitude trading them," he said.

The contracts have stop-loss facilities to control risk.

The company is using Westpac as it banker in New Zealand.

IG Markets will be conducting seminars in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

The company is hoping New Zealand will provide business equal to about 10 percent of its current Australian base, which has 30,000 to 40,000 clients, with between 20 to 30 percent of traders being active.