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The euro stays under fierce attack and stock markets around the globe are unstable, so what possible reasons may there be for putting your cash into stocks now?

The euro remains under fierce assault and stock markets around the globe are risky, so what possible reasons might there be for placing your money into stocks right now?

There are 5 arguments in favour of investing for the long run in equitities.

The FTSE 100 dropped more than 2% to under the psychologically vital 5,000 level last Tuesday. But on Wednesday and Thursday, bargain hunters were buying up low cost shares and pushing the FTSE back up to get back all of Tuesday's losses.

Professional investors have additionally been profiting from decrease prices.

Anthony Bolton, the celebrated Fidelity fund manager staking his fame on a brand new China fund, is investing about 400m of British savers' money there.

Last week he said market falls offered 'important opportunities.'

With savings rates at record lows, firms that pay dividends to shareholders are attractive.

The lower their per share prices, the more appealing their hoped-for dividends become.

Quite a few FTSE 100 giants, such as drug maker Glaxo and telecoms giant Vodafone, pay good-looking dividends.

Shopping for shares in such corporations can secure a yield - that's the value of the historic dividend relative to share value - of 5%.

There's also the hope of capital growth although, importantly, values could fall further. How reliable are these corporations' dividends?

Many of our biggest corporations earn most of their earnings abroad.

Many also produce items and services - similar to healthcare or tobacco - for which there's sturdy demand even throughout recessions.

Dividends have not often been extra essential to investors. If you don't need to spend money on shares directly, you can decide an equity income fund where a professional money manager does the job on your behalf.

The euro disaster has driven world capital towards the dollar, pushing it up against weaker currencies, together with sterling.

This is excellent news for British investors in shares or funds where company earnings, and dividends, are denominated in US dollars as they get an uplift purely on currency.

The decoupling argument posed the speculation that emerging economies like China and India had adequate momentum to develop, even when the established economies of the west faltered or shrank.

That theory proved mistaken in 2009 when the worldwide recession triggered by the West's monetary disaster brought on even China's powerful economy to cease growing.

However now economists say decoupling really is happening. Whereas the West languishes in fragile recovery, China and India thrive and supply buyers opportunities to profit.

James Dowey, economist at fund group Neptune, says: 'Until now, these markets have been suppliers of products needing to be exported. Post-crisis, they're demonstrating they've the dimensions to develop internally.'

Buyers have access to many funds that invest in China. Extremely regarded ones embrace First State Greater China Growth and Jupiter China.

Whether or not British buyers go for a China fund they are more likely to benefit from the nation's growth through their holdings in British corporations, such as Burberry, which trade increasingly in Asia.

Understand that China's growth has always been in jumps and stops and will likely continue this pattern in the future.

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