Investors’ confidence up in June

The Global Investor Confidence (ICI) Index has increased 6.1 points to 95.8 in June, marking the 6^th consecutive month growth.

The Global ICI was driven by North American ICI, which recorded a 4.9 point rise to 90, and the European ICI, which posted a 5 point growth to 104.9. At the same time, the Asian ICI dropped 4.3 points to 96.7.

“Investor confidence was once again stronger in June, with the Global ICI improving for the 6th consecutive month, a streak that has only been replicated once (in 2009) in the 25 years since the creation of the index,” Marvin Loh, senior global macro strategist at State Street Global Markets, said.

However, he stressed, the investor’s confidence still remained below neutral, signalling a “continued defensiveness towards overall risk allocations”.

According to Loh, the North America ICI reading continued to improve as the resolution of the debt ceiling debate removed a significant market risk from the radar.

“The Europe ICI was also stronger on the month, returning to risk seeking territory as it records the highest reading amongst the regions we track. Finally, Asia investor confidence deteriorated back below neutral as China continues to experience a bumpy post Covid recovery.”

The State Street Global Markets (SSGM) Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence or risk appetite quantitatively by analysing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors and assigns a precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite, with a reading of 100 being neutral and describing the level at which investors are neither increasing nor decreasing their long-term allocations to risky assets.