Rich NZ investors still glum, says survey

The investment sentiment of New Zealand's wealthy investors improved during the second quarter of the year from "pessimistic" to "neutral" but they are still the gloomiest group among investors from 13 countries surveyed by ING.

The financial services multinational's quarterly Investor Dashboard Survey found sentiment among the 100 high net worth New Zealand investors it questioned had increased from an average of 67 in the first quarter to 84 - a level ING deems to be neutral on its index, which ranges from 0 to 200.

Australian investors leapfrogged New Zealand counterparts, going from a first quarter reading of 62 to 116, a level "bordering on optimism", ING investment strategist Stuart Millar said.

The average across the 13 countries in the survey's "Pan-Asian Index" was 132, up from 85 for the previous quarter and comfortably above the 120-point level that marks "optimism".

ING said factors contributing to the increase in optimism were the recent performance of financial markets "and the confidence that economic growth in the region will perform better than more developed economies in the Western World".

Indian investors topped the table with a reading of 182. Chinese investors were the second most cheery with a score of 158. New Zealand's reading put us at the bottom of the table.

New Zealand investors were also the most conservative and claimed to have the lowest rate of return.

"New Zealand has been in recession for five quarters now and there have only been a few signs that the pace of economic deterioration is slowing, so it is not surprising that investors remain relatively gloomy about the economic situation," said Millar.

"Looking ahead, the conservative outlook of New Zealand investors may be a more realistic assessment of the current situation."

The survey's 1314 respondents have disposable assets or investments in excess of US$100,000 ($156,000).

ASIA OPTIMISTIC

Second quarter investment sentiment scores
1. India: 182
2. China: 158
3. Taiwan: 136
4. Indonesia: 129
5. Hong Kong: 125
6. Korea: 122
7. Malaysia: 122
8. Singapore: 120
9. Philippines: 116
10. Australia: 116
11. Thailand: 113
12. Japan: 99
13. New Zealand: 84