Institutional investor sentiment improves

27 April 2017
| By Mike |
image
image
expand image

Asian institutional investors remained amongst the most pessimistic in April, according to the latest State Street Investor Confidence Index.

The index, released this week, revealed that while European and North American institutional investors were broadly more confident during the month, this was not shared by their counterparts in Asia.

It showed that the global index rose to 99.5, up 2.6 points from March’s revised reading of 96.9 with confidence among the North American investors improving 4.6 points to 98.3, while that amongst Europeans increased from 94.8 per cent to 96.1 per cent.

However the Asian index declined by 5.1 points from 109.8 to 104.7.

Commenting on the index, State Street Associates’ Kenneth Froot said April had seen some improvement in North America and Europe despite looming geopolitical tensions and policy uncertainty in the US and abroad.

“Our measure of the global investor confidence has been on the uptick for two consecutive months and resonated with the improving global growth outlook and expectations of higher inflation,” he said.

However, he noted that it was still shy of the 100 level mark, indicating that investors' risk appetite appeared to be on hold as they awaited details of a new US tax plan and a possible resurrection of the health care reform act.

State Street Global Markets head of global macro strategy, Michael Metcalfe noted that the April index was calculated before France went to the polls.

“…but it is telling that European investor confidence was still edging higher even then to mark the second consecutive monthly gain,” he said. “It is suggestive that concerns at the start of the year about European political risk, along with weak growth, may have been overplayed.”

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

11 months ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

11 months 1 week ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

11 months 1 week ago

Jim Chalmers has defended changes to the Future Fund’s mandate, referring to himself as a “big supporter” of the sovereign wealth fund, amid fierce opposition from the Co...

1 day 17 hours ago

Demand from institutional investors was the main driver of growth in Australia’s responsible investment (RI) market in 2023, as the industry continued to gain momentum....

1 day 17 hours ago

In a new review of the country’s largest fund, a research house says it’s well placed to deliver attractive returns despite challenges....

1 day 18 hours ago