Heather Connon: Is the stock market correction over, then?

For those who want to build up their own portfolio of shares, housebuilders are among the experts' favourite tips. In contrast to the US, our housing market is reasonably healthy yet builders' shares are still very cheap. And Jane also likes banks - a giant like HSBC can be bought on a yield of 4.4 per cent, based on this year's expected dividends, and has increased its payout for more than two decades.

You might want to put oil and coffee in your basket

Fancy a flutter on lean hogs, a punt on cotton or a bet on soybean oil? You will shortly be able to do that simply by ringing your stockbroker and buying a share. ETF Securities, which already runs similar products allowing investors to track gold and oil prices, is launching 29 exchange traded commodities funds over the next few weeks.

Few private investors will - or should - want to dabble in individual commodities like gold or oil, far less anything as esoteric and volatile as zinc or coffee. But, as well as 19 individual funds, ETF is also launching 10 commodity baskets, including one for all commodities as well as things like agricultural commodities, energy, precious and industrial metals. These could to be far more interesting to individual investors with large portfolios looking to diversify their investments.

Commodities have been the hot area to be in over the last five years: JP Morgan's Natural Resources fund and Merrill Lynch's Gold and General funds - among the few funds that investors can use to get exposure to commodities - have both risen by more than 330 per cent over the last five years, almost three times better than the best-performing UK All Companies fund.

But these both invest mainly in the shares of commodity companies rather than the commodities themselves. While resources companies have obviously benefited hugely from soaring commodity prices, their performance is also heavily influenced by the stock market. Take BP for example: while the oil price has all but doubled in the last two years, BP's shares have risen just 20 per cent, below the average for the FTSE 100 index.

While there have been a few fund launches using futures and other derivative contracts to give investors exposure to commodities directly, ETF Securities' range are the simplest, and the first to offer such a wide choice of products.

Similar to a tracker fund, exchange traded securities are designed to mirror a particular price index but, unlike a unit trust tracker, they are quoted on the stock market and can be bought and sold through a broker like any other share. They will often be cheaper than a tracker too: there is no upfront charge other than the broker's commission, they are exempt from stamp duty and the annual charge is just 0.49 per cent.

There is already a range of ETFs tracking stock market and property indices; adding commodities makes them a valuable tool for investors. That does not mean you should pile in expecting the same sort of gains that have already been seen. While some experts believe the commodity bull run has only just started, it would be rash to bank on it: it is just as likely that it will pause, or even reverse.

Nor should you put all your portfolio into commodities - and particularly not individual ones - 10 per cent of your total assets will be enough for most investors.