Undeterred by the roller coaster that financial markets world wide have been riding recently, the exchange is embarking on a campaign to make the public "share aware".

Leeds investors are the first to be targeted.

The FTSE 100 may have seen its value cut by 25% this summer because of the global financial turmoil, but Celia Glyn Williams, head of private investor services at the stock exchange says according to a recent MORI survey, 90% of people who own shares have not even considered selling them.

Stock Exchange spokeswoman, Celia Glyn Williams: 'Not buying in bulk but not selling either'

In fact, 43% of those questioned considered now to be a good time to buy because of the huge share price falls in the last three months.

The survey, commissioned by the London Stock Exchange, reported that only 21% of those who had considered selling out as a result of the market's falls had done so.

Turbulent times

Recent tumbles have seen the FTSE 100 Index of top companies drop from all time highs of nearly 6180 points in late July to around the 5200 mark now.

The survey said the turbulence in share prices had made investors more aware of the City.

Shareholders are more avid readers of the financial pages of newspapers than ever before, with 23% of them checking their share prices more frequently than usual.

The London Stock Exchange is keen to attract more investors

The 2,000 respondents mostly saw shares as a better long term investment than putting their cash into a savings account.

In the US, share ownership is so widespread that experts fear a fall in the value of stocks could seriously destabilise the domestic economy, because it would greatly reduce people's spending power.

The UK has 12m private shareholders.

London Stock Exchange is keen to encourage more people to invest in shares for obvious reasons, but some economists feel the recent falls in share prices will put investors off.

Investors rattled

Private investors were caught up in the market volatility last month, with more personal savings flowing in and out of the stock market than in previous months.

Research, compiled by the Association of Unit Trust and Investment Funds (Autif) indicates that an extra £1.4bn was invested in these stock market funds in September, a 7% increase on last year's figures.

But while some private investors saw an opportunity in the market chaos, others were severely rattled and the amount of private cash pulled out of the market increased, though not enough to counterbalance the extra cash invested.

Personal equity plans (Peps) continue to be popular with private investors.

While the FTSE 100 Index tumbled towards the 5000 mark investors remained resolute with 110,000 new Peps opened.

Peps are a tax-free way of investing in shares.

The report shows that the amount invested in Peps stood at £406m last month, up on August's figure of £400m and higher than comparable figures last year.

Sales of bond funds increased over the month as bond prices remained more stable and have generally outperformed share portfolios.

Philip Warland, director general of Autif said: "This latest set of figures is our strongest evidence yet that private investors buying investment funds, especially via Peps are committed savers, and understand that investment funds offer the key to long term financial security.