The latest ING investor sentiment survey said that since the survey was launched in the third quarter of 2007, people in Asia had been most optimistic in the fourth quarter last year.
The quarterly ING Investor Dashboard Survey released yesterday showed that Asia’s investment sentiment index in the three months ending on Dec. 31 had risen for four consecutive quarters.
With a score of 147 in the fourth quarter, the index has also remained in “optimistic” territory for three consecutive quarters since the global financial crisis began in the third quarter of 2008.
“The economy of emerging markets in Asia is stabilizing at a faster pace than the developed countries in Europe and the US,” Steven Billiet, chief executive officer at ING Securities Investment Trust (Taiwan) Ltd, said in the statement. “Basically … 2010 will be an optimistic year.”
For investors in Taiwan, the sentiment index score was at 153 last quarter, which was unchanged from the previous quarter and allowed the country to retain its third-most optimistic ranking in Asia for the third consecutive quarter after China and India.
About 77 percent of respondents in Taiwan said the economic situation was improving and more than 70 percent expressed optimism about the economic prospects and return on investment this quarter.
Meanwhile, 61 percent of respondents in Taiwan said a memorandum of understanding and an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China would have a positive impact on wealth accumulation, while 25 percent said it would not, the survey showed.
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