Investors in Britain appear to have lost their appetite for buying and selling shares online, according to the latest research.

Figures produced by ComPeer and published in today's Guardian showed that 648,000 trading orders were placed in Q2, compared to 930,000 in Q1.

The fall has been blamed on the slide in hi-tech shares although online traders are still reporting a rise in the number of people signing up for their services.

Analysts believe that while more people are trading online, they are not as active.

---

MadcowTV.com, a Manchester based start up which plans to broadcast live TV on the Internet 24 hours a day, has secured £80,000 seed funding. Content will consist of six-hour blocks of programming timed to coincide with prime-time viewing in four time zones. The channel is due to launch this autumn and is planning to float within a year.

---

Interclubnet.com had a steady stock market debut yesterday. The company is the latest Internet project from entrepreneur Bob Morton - he holds a stake
of around 25 per cent. Shares in the company closed up 3.5 pence on their issue price of 125 pence. The site operates a multi-lingual portal for the professional footballing community.

---

Bluekite.com has announced a managing director for its European operations. Jan Wiejak comes from Lucent subsidiary Kenan systems where he was head of the mobile section and head of sales for Europe. The company, which provides wireless Web access, recently announced the opening of two new offices in London and Paris. ®

More cash dotcom tales can be found at Cash Register.