Taiwanese investors have grown more optimistic about short-term prospects because of decreasing inflationary pressures, but remain pessimistic over the long-term amid concerns about the after-effects of the US subprime crisis and future oil price rises, a survey showed yesterday.
Despite the recent lackluster stock performance, the nation’s investor sentiment index rose to minus 45.98 points this month from minus 61.31 points in June, showing that investor sentiment had begun to turn less pessimistic, the bi-monthly survey conducted by Shih Hsin University said.
For each index, a score above zero indicates optimism, while a score below zero indicates pessimism.
Asked about investors’ level of optimism in achieving their investment goals in the next three months, the index rose from minus 55.5 points in June to minus 41.1 points this month, indicating that investors had regained confidence in short-term investment.
However, investors were pessimistic about reaching their investment goals in the next year, with the index falling from 9.4 points to minus 6.2 points.
“The recent drop in international oil and commodity prices means investors are less worried about the impact of inflation. But the more important question remains whether the US subprime crisis has been resolved, which is hard to say at this point,” Chou Ji (周濟), a professor of economics at Shih Hsin University, said yesterday.
Based on the survey, 46.8 percent of investors said they had lost more than 20 percent of their stock investments this year.
Overall, 75 percent of investors said they had suffered losses in the stock market this year, the survey showed, with 21.4 percent attributing their losses to the US subprime crisis and 21.01 percent blaming it on fuel price hikes. More than 18 percent blamed the economic policies of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration.
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