Stocks 101:

A stock (or share) represents a small ownership stake in a single company. Buy one, and you legally own a fraction of that business. Its price moves with the company's performance and overall market demand, and depending on the company, shareholders may also receive dividends or voting rights.

For example, if a company divides itself into a million shares and you own one, you hold a one-millionth stake in that business,  including a claim on its future profits and, often, a vote at shareholder meetings.

Companies issue shares to raise money for growth.

Shares are bought and sold on stock exchanges.

To buy your first stock, open an account with an authorised broker or platform, verify your identity, deposit funds, search for the company and place an order. Many platforms offer fractional shares, so you can start with a small amount instead of buying a whole share.

Check the essentials first. Fees, available exchanges, and how the platform holds your assets.

Decide your amount in advance. Know how much to invest before you place the order.

Fractional shares lower the barrier. You don't need the full share price to begin.

Dividend stocks are shares of companies that regularly distribute part of their profits to shareholders, providing a steady income on top of potential price gains.

Stocks can be categorised by company size or investment style, for example, large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks, or value and growth stocks, each offering different risk and return profiles.

Start with the company itself: what it does, how it earns money, and how its revenue, profit and debt have developed, then use a few common metrics to compare it with similar companies. Always read the company's official reports before deciding.

Earnings per share (EPS): profit attributable to each share.

Price-to-earnings ratio (P/E): share price relative to earnings.

Market capitalisation: the total value of all a company's shares.

No single metric tells the whole story. This is general education, not a recommendation.

• Stock market opening hours vary by country. For example, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) typically opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, while European exchanges follow their local business hours.

At its simplest, a stock's price is set by supply and demand: when more people want to buy a share than sell it, the price tends to rise, and when more want to sell than buy, it tends to fall. What shifts that balance is a mix of factors: company results, economic data, interest rates, industry news and investor expectations. Prices often react to what investors expect to happen, not only to what already has.

• Company performance: results like earnings, revenue and profit updates can move a share price sharply, especially when they differ from what investors expected.

• The wider economy: interest rate changes, inflation figures and other economic data can move whole markets at once, not just a single stock.

• Industry and news events: developments in a company's sector, new competition, regulation or demand shifts, can change how investors value it.

• Investor sentiment and expectations: markets are forward-looking, so optimism or caution about the future can move prices before anything actually happens.

• Supply of shares: events that change the number of shares available, or how many investors want to hold them, also feed into the price.

The factors above change constantly, so it helps to follow primary, neutral sources rather than rely on any single opinion:

You can invest in commodities either directly by buying physical metals like gold or indirectly through ETCs, ETFs, or commodity-related stocks. Direct investments offer tangible assets but require storage, while indirect options provide broader access and diversification but can involve higher complexity or risk.