A worldwide survey of leading institutional investors revealed that investors remain confident that global indices will continue to grow, with over 75 per cent of investors surveyed holding positive or neutral sentiments about investing in equity markets next year.
It was also found that investors in the Asia Pacific were the most optimistic across the world, with investors from the UK carrying the most pessimistic outlooks.
The Global Investor Review, a survey conducted by FD, the strategic communications segment of global investor relations consultancy FTI Consultancy, quizzed 150 of the world's largest investment funds over the third quarter of 2009.
Respondents were based in the US, the UK, Europe and the Asia Pacific.
The survey focussed on the key areas of investor confidence, geographic investment trends and the importance of equity market regulation.
Seventy three per cent of investors identified the market regulatory environment as a major factor in determining their investment decisions.
The results showed 80 per cent of investors chose the Asia Pacific as the preferred region for investment, with the US the second most popular region.
Investors remain sceptical towards Western and Eastern European companies and the UK.
Importantly, investors identified government stimulus packages worldwide as the key driver of this increased market confidence.
This has led to a cautious approach from investors on the outlook once stimulus is removed.
"Accordingly, these findings suggest that companies should be planning their investor relations programs from a global perspective - not merely narrowly focusing on their domestic markets, but also exploiting other more liquid and active geographies," FD Global chief executive Charles Watson said.
