One of the classic problems with investing in overseas shares, such as Microsoft, is that you not only have to worry about the share price, but you also have to worry about the exchange rate, and the price of getting ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the foreign currency.  You could ‘make’ on the share price only to find out that you lose overall because the exchange rate has moved against you.

And then there is the FX ‘margin’ that you will be charged to move from your currency into the foreign currency to pay for your transaction.  Then there will be the FX ‘margin’ to get it back into your currency once you sell the equities! However, with financial spread betting, once you have elected your reference currency - £,EUR, $ - you have the facility to process all your transactions in that reference currency, without running any currency risk. This is because, as opposed to standard share dealing, spread betting companies quote prices per point move, not per EUR, $ or £ amount.