Only 22 percent of Taiwanese investors are optimistic about the outlook for the local stock market over the next 12 months, lower than Hong Kong, Singapore and China, amid concerns over global volatility and risks of inflation, Legg Mason Investment Taiwan Ltd (美盛證券投顧) said at a news conference yesterday.
Citing a poll conducted at the end of July, Legg Mason Investment said that 62 percent of investors in China are strongly optimistic about their equity markets, followed by 52 percent in Hong Kong and 49 percent in Singapore.
Asian investors overall share the same optimistic sentiment regarding domestic equity markets compared with foreign equities, real estate, gold or other precious metals, the company said.
Investors in general have felt the most threatened by the uncertainty in the global economy, but Taiwanese investors ranked the volatility in the global equity market and inflation as the second and third-biggest threat, while global investors ranked the US-China trade dispute the second-most important threat, Legg Mason Investment said.
Investors in Taiwan are also worried that local shares might take cues from foreign markets, which have fallen many times this year, Legg Mason Investment Taiwan general manager Shannon Wang (王心如) said.
Taiwanese investors are attracted to other targets, with 29 percent of them considering investing in gold, Wang said.
Gold is usually preferred by those who are worried about inflation and tend to play safe, she said.
Taiwanese investors are bracing for cryptocurrency, with 22 percent of them regarding it as the best target, higher than 12 percent in Hong Kong, 20 percent in Singapore and 16 percent in China, Legg Mason Investment said.
Taiwanese investors are also more open-minded about automated advisers, with 32 percent of them using apps featuring smart money management or automated consulting when making investment decisions, higher than 25 percent of global investors, it said.
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