Oil prices are sky high, interest-rate rises loom for months ahead, and the London stock market is stuck at the same level as it was when Labour came to power in 1997 - but small investors are as keen as ever to play the stock market. Despite the bursting of the technology bubble in 2001, share ownership has scarcely lost its charms. There are still 11m private shareholders in Britain - down from 15m in 1997, but far ahead of 3m in 1979 when Mrs Thatcher arrived at Number Ten. At The Share Centre, which champions small investors, as many as 2,000 of the 120,000 registered investors buy and sell shares from £2.50 per deal as regular "day traders", earning a living in their own front room. According to Proshare, an organisation set up to promote the idea of a share-owning democracy and supported by over 140 publicly-quoted companies, more than 12,000 investment clubs around the country try to pick winners at regular meetings in pubs or private homes. Halifax ShareBuilder, claimed to be the only service in the UK enabling customers to invest in stocks and shares by saving a minimum £20 per month, is relaunching itself to 3.5m Halifax customers by promising the cheapest commission rates, from just £1.50 per deal. All this interest is remarkable, however, because shares - in London particularly, and around the world - are an extremely risky place to hold cash right now. Steve Russell, head of research at Ruffer Investment Management which handles portfolios for wealthy private clients, warns equity markets around the world could "easily" crash 20pc. Even Killik & Co, the broker famous for "hot" tips for the new generation of share dealers in the '90s, admits the market is shifting into "marginally more defensive mode" - and urges investors into shares which have already broken plenty of hearts, like BT and Rentokil. In a difficult and uncertain market, the prudent approach is to invest in managed funds, rather than single shares which can plunge 20pc in a day on bad news. Pay a monthly sum by direct debit, rather than a lump sum which is exposed in a crash. Because plenty of companies are paying generous dividends approaching 5pc, this is not a bad time either to look at income funds. Killik tips Newton Higher Income and Rathbone Income - and Invesco Perpetual Corporate Bond Fund for those who like bonds as a safe haven when equities wobble. The danger of avoiding shares altogether is investors miss out on the first stages of an upturn, if and when it ever happens. But a useful guide in difficult times is the survey from Citywire - a financial information group - revealing the shares with most support from a "brains trust" of 19 top fund managers. Their Top 20 reads (from top down); Premier Oil, Pendragon; SIG; Carillion; NHP; Photo-Me; Topps Tiles; British Insurance Holdings; Paragon Group; Arla Foods; Evolution Group; McAlpine; Rotork; Headlam Group; Laing (John); Somerfield; Thus; Britannic; GWR and Wellington Underwriting. Few of those names, curiously enough, pop up regularly as newspaper and magazine tips - which may be why thousands of investors feel exposed if the London market another plunge. INFORMATION: National Savings & Investments (0500 500 000); Killik & Co (020 7337 0400); Share Centre (01296 414141); Hargreaves Lansdown (0117 988 9880); Halifax Share Dealing (0870 600 5000). | 
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