INVESTORS in Asia have grown more confident about the global economic recovery, and Singapore investors are enjoying the biggest boost in sentiment.
According to a survey by Dutch banking group ING, investors here have registered the biggest increase in confidence across Asia, with a 24 per cent jump in optimism between June and last month.
The buoyancy may stem from the sustained strong performance of the financial markets and Singapore property market, said ING in a press statement yesterday.
Investors in South Korea and the Philippines were the next most upbeat, with a 19 per cent and 16 per cent increase in sentiment respectively over the same period.
In general, Asian investors are experiencing strong optimism about their local economies improving and the global economy being on the road to recovery.
Export-oriented markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan have particularly cheerful investors who anticipate that their economies and that of the United States will continue improving in the fourth quarter.
In Singapore, four out of five investors believe the economic situation will get better by the end of the year.
Almost all of them - 91 per cent - believe that the local stock market will remain constant or rise in the fourth quarter, and on average they expect stocks to rise by another 9.3 per cent in the period.
Many of them are currently invested in sectors poised to benefit when the global recovery picks up, such as financial services, telecommunications, technology and commodities.
Eight out of 10 Singapore investors also believe home prices will not fall for the rest of the year. The average expected rise: 2.6 per cent.
Mr Tim Condon, head of research and chief Asian economist for ING Wholesale Banking, said the Singapore economy has 'snapped back more quickly than expected, albeit from a low base' as the Government did a good job preparing for the recession.
He believes investor confidence has been boosted by the strong rebounds in the stock and property markets, optimism about the tourism industry with the upcoming integrated resorts, and expectations of exports picking up next year with the recovery of the global economy.
One concern that Singapore investors have, however, is inflation. Three-quarters of them expect prices to rise next year, and about two-thirds think interest rates will also go up next year.
The ING Investor Dashboard survey has been published every quarter for more than two years. It is conducted across 13 markets in the Asia-Pacific, including Japan, Australia and New Zealand.