Australian investors appear to be sensing an economic recovery, according to the latest ING Investor Dashboard Sentiment Index, which has revealed an 82 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase.
However, the index analysis makes clear that the large increase in sentiment through the second quarter of this year needs to be put in perspective, with Australia still ranking fourth lowest in sentiment of the 13 Asia-Pacific nations covered by the index.
Commenting on the index, ING’s head of retail platforms and employer super, Mark Pankhurst, said the index had consistently shown that Australian investors were less optimistic than Asian investors.
“However, it is the huge quarter on quarter sentiment increase that really stands out in Australia’s latest figures,” he said.
Pankhurst said Australia was bouncing back from the global financial crisis and in circumstances where investor sentiment was the driver of economic activity, the better than expected results of ING’s Investor Dashboard Sentiment Index were a positive indicator of the Australian economy as a whole.
The key findings of the index were that 46 per cent of Australian investors believed the economic situation had improved, up from 6 per cent in the first quarter, 39 per cent of investors believed the rate of return on their investments had increased, up from 9 per cent in the first quarter, and 36 per cent of Australian investors said their personal financial situation had improved, up from 13 per cent.
