Should also add that retail holders are incredibly well...

Should also add that retail holders are incredibly well protected in Australia. Despite all of the criticism, our market is one of the best in the world for retail holders - I have invested on a number of exchanges over the globe. Corporate governance and transparency are amongst the highest of any exchange. In all four completed capital raisings I have participated in this year, the retail compenent was more than fair.

The problem with our index is the high proportion of poor quality cyclical names....... Still if you avoid these it is a great place to invest. BAP is a company I am quite hopeful of growing earnings in the years ahead. Autozone (NYSE:AZO) gives some indication of what BAP could become in the Australian market. However, with the rise in the SP the latent value that existed is mostly gone and probably not worth chasing at these prices in my opinion.