Experience doesn't always tell. That became clear last week when a team of commodity traders from Cargills triumphed in the Reuters Stock Market Charity Challenge, an equity trading game held to benefit the National Deaf Children's Society at Merchant Taylors' Hall in the City of London.

In a frenetic series of 'daily' stock trading sessions punctuated by 'news' bulletins, the Cargills team managed to more than triple its original stake of £25,000 in play money, beating a roomful of bankers and equities experts from the likes of NatWest Stockbrokers and Instinet.