Investors remain optimistic the good times will keep on rolling, with confidence in the September quarter remaining high, says the latest ASB Bank Investor Confidence Survey, released today.
The survey showed confidence remained over a net 20 per cent for the second consecutive quarter, the first time it has stayed abovethe 20 per cent mark for more than one quarter.
Overall confidence remained unchanged from the previous quarter at 21 per cent.
The bank said in a commentary that confidence levels have passed the current net 21 per cent level only once in the past 10 years.
That was in the last quarter of 2003, when investor confidence peaked at a net 24 per cent.
"It also has to be seen against the backdrop of widespread talk of a New Zealand economy about to slow and concerns about the effect of high oil prices on the global economy."
ASB said a feature of this quarter's results was the growing confidence of sharemarket investors, a trend that has been developing over the past 12 months.
The gross return of New Zealand shares over the September quarter was 5.1 per cent and 24 per cent over the September year.
Of respondents with shares as their main investment, 67 per cent thought shares would provide the best investment returns. This confidence is up strongly on 2003 and now puts share investors on a par with residential property investors, with a similar number (67 per cent) remaining convinced that property offers the best return.
