Asian investors are optimistic about long-term investment outlook

IN our latest UBS Investor Sentiment survey, we surveyed 1,740 high-net-worth investors in Asia-Pacific to gauge their views on financial markets, the economy and their short- and long-term goals.

Wealthy Asian investors are near the top of the league tables for economic optimism worldwide. That makes sense, given that growth in Asia has outpaced the rest of the world for the past 20 years. But it does seem to overlook rising US-China trade tensions, which have weighed on markets and economic activity and which rank as the top worry for the same wealthy Asians who participated in a new UBS study.

At first glance, it also flies in the face of the fact that wealthy Asian investors are holding large sums of their portfolios in cash, a clear sign they'd rather keep what they've got rather than put it to work - and at risk.