Global investor confidence inches up in Dec: State Street

INVESTORS' risk appetites grew overall in December, driven mainly by a boost for those in Europe and Asia, according to the latest movements of an index based on institutional investors' percentage allocation to equities.

The State Street Investor Confidence Index edged up a point to a reading of 108.3 this month from a revised 107.3 in November, asset manager State Street said in a press release on Wednesday.

This was mainly due to the European index rising from 96.2 to 103.7 and Asia's climbing from 100.5 to 105.1 over the two months, State Street said.

In contrast, investors in the United States became a little less confident, with their index figure slipping from 112.5 last month to 106.6 in December.

A reading of 100 is neutral and represents the level at which investors are neither increasing nor decreasing their long-term allocations to risky assets.

Some investors who are included in the global index are not represented in the regional components, such as South American and Middle Eastern investors, according to State Street's website. This explains why the global index can be higher than the regional indices for Europe, Asia and the US.