KEY POINTS:
Confidence among wealthy New Zealand investors has bounced back slightly in the last three months, bucking a downwards trend across the Asia Pacific region.
But Kiwis are some of the most pessimistic in the region on our country's economic future.
The ING Investor Dashboard surveys 1300 high-net-worth investors across 13 countries every three months and gives the country a score out of 200 on investor confidence.
Last quarter New Zealand fell 23.7 per cent to score 90 out of 200 but this quarter's survey reveals it has come back up 8.9 per cent to 98 out 200.
However sentiment across the Asia Pacific was found to have slumped by an average of 13 per cent to a score of 109 led by strong declines in China and the southeast Asian markets.
Investor confidence in Thailand saw the biggest drop off with a 38.2 per cent decline dropping it from third position in the region to 12th while Malaysia was also down 35.9 per cent and dropped from 5th to 11th place.
India retained its top spot as having the most positive investment outlook although it also declined 3 per cent while China slipped to third position behind Hong Kong after its investor sentiment dropped 14 per cent.
Investor confidence across the region has dropped for three quarters in a row.
ING general manager marketing and client services Steven Giannoulis said there appeared to be a lag in the reaction of investors in the developing markets of China and India to the global economic slowdown but sentiment was now catching up.
"The reality is that China, and the region as a whole, have not decoupled from the US or global markets. China has clearly been impacted by the knock-on effects of the US economy."
Giannoulis said the nine point climb by New Zealand investors had regained ground lost in the last quarter but was not highly significant as New Zealand remained in the same band of the index showing Kiwis preferred to take low levels of risks with their money.
Of more significance, he said, was the increase in pessimism towards New Zealand's economic future. More than half of Kiwis surveyed (53 per cent) thought New Zealand's situation would deteriorate in the next three months and over 70 per cent believed inflation would continue to rise.
Only investors in Korea, Japan and Thailand were more negative about their country's future economic situation.
However, on a personal level New Zealanders were more positive about their own financial situation with 76 per cent believing it will either stay the same or improve in the next three months.
"We tend to have a she'll be right attitude when it comes to our own situation," Giannoulis said.
The survey gathered information from 100 New Zealand investors with disposable assets or investments of US$100,000 ($130,300) and above.
RANKING THE DOOMSAYERS
Percentage of high-net-worth investors who believe the economy will deteriorate:
* Japan 68
* Thailand 63
* Korea 63
* New Zealand 53
* Average across Asia Pacific region 38