Investor confidence rose to 89.5 this quarter, the highest in two years, bolstered by a global economic recovery and expectations of portfolio gains, a survey by JPMorgan Asset Management Taiwan (摩根資產管理) showed yesterday.
The gauge, compiled by a local branch of the US-based fund manager, climbed 0.9 points from three months earlier and for a second straight quarter, the survey showed.
The quarterly survey aims to capture how local investors view economic, political and market maneuvers, with scores above 100 suggesting a positive sentiment and scores below the threshold indicating a lack of confidence.
JPMorgan Taiwan managing director Alex Chio (邱亮士) attributed the upswing to an improving global economy and equity rallies across bourses worldwide.
The positive sentiment is likely to extend through the rest of the year as the sub-index on the global economy picked up 10.1 points to 112.6 this quarter, while the gauge on potential portfolio gains saw an increase of 5.4 points to 112.4, the survey showed.
Confidence remained firm even as Taiwanese investors grew increasingly uneasy about the domestic economy, the investment environment and the nation’s ties with China, it said.
Winners outnumbered losers in the current quarter, as 55.3 percent of investors reported gains from their investments at home and abroad, an increase of 6.9 percentage points from the previous quarter, the survey showed.
Only 16.9 percent of investors incurred losses, the lowest level since January 2008, it showed.
The survey showed that 56 percent of investors made money from investments in local shares, up 6.9 percentage points compared with three months earlier.
After rallying past 10,000 points in May, the TAIEX has stayed above the critical mark, allowing shares of chipmakers to recover to their ex-dividend date levels and camera lens suppliers to hit record highs, it said.
“The recent pullback can be attributed to geopolitical tensions, which may be short-lived,” Chio said, adding that corrections are common for global bourses during the summer break.
With the end of the summer vacation, stock markets might regain their growth momentum, buoyed by back-to-school demand and holiday sales ahead of Christmas and New Year, Chio said.
The TAIEX yesterday shed 0.28 percent to close at 10,496.57 on turnover of NT$107.23 billion (US$3.55 billion), as reports of North Korea’s new missile tests unnerved investors, First Securities Investment Trust Co (第一金投信) said.
The state-run fund house threw its weight behind companies with a focus on “smart” production, saying such shares could better survive geopolitical and other uncertainties.
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