Local investors are optimistic about the local bourse’s performance over the next 12 months following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and an easing of the European credit crisis, a survey said yesterday.
The index of local investor confidence in achieving investment goals over the next year was 28.53 points, which is in the same range as before the financial crisis, according to a survey jointly released by Shih Hsin University and the Chinese-language Business Today weekly.
However, the index showed a drop of 16.02 points from December, when the last poll results were released.
“The signing of the ECFA with China has its pros and cons. But generally speaking, the pros outweigh the cons at this time as it will improve the economies of both sides,” Kuo Min-hua (郭敏華), an associate professor of finance at Shih Hsin, told a press briefing.
International relations and the global economy will also weigh on investment sentiment, she said.
More than 60 percent of those polled indicated the ECFA, the European debt crisis, the outflow of foreign investments and the performance of global stock markets would affect their willingness to invest more on the TAIEX, the survey said.
Only 7 percent of those polled in December said an ECFA would impact on their willingness to invest, but the percentage rose to 20.6 percent this time.
The survey was conducted from June 10 to June 20 by telephone, with 1,069 valid samples. The sampling error was 3 percent.
The poll also showed an increase of 5.37 points to 46.87 points in the index of people’s confidence in maintaining their current income over the next 12 months.
Despite the upbeat mood, investment sentiment for the third quarter is on the rocks. The index of optimism on hitting investment goals over the next three months dipped to minus 21.61 points from an earlier 37.25 points, while the index of optimism on the performance of the local bourse over the next three months dived to minus 10.94 points from 47.87 points last December, the results showed.
The TAIEX closed 1.27 percent lower at 7,329.4 points yesterday. The index hit its highest mark of the year — 8,357 points — in January.
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