Economic confidence among Irish investors at four year high

Economic sentiment among Irish investors has reached a four-year high according to the latest RaboDirect Investor Barometer.

More than 80 per cent of investors surveyed for the barometer said they are confident in the outlook for the Irish economy over the next three months. This compares with an all-time low recorded in 2010 when only 10 per cent of Irish investors expressed confidence in the economy.

The turnaround in investor sentiment is due largely to recovery in the global economy which is gaining traction and also the more positive forecasts for the domestic economy, RaboDirect investment manager Killian Nolan said.

"Another key factor contributing to investor optimism is the historically low interest rates set by the European Central Bank which looks set to continue for the foreseeable future," he added.

The survey found optimism in the global economy remains strong, with 85 per cent of Irish investors saying they are confident about the global economic outlook over the next three months.

When asked which particular sectors investors would be watching out for over the remainder of 2014, 29 per cent indicated the technology sector was of interest, 20 per cent said the financial sector and 20 per cent said sustainability-related investments.

Irish consumer sentiment also improved in June, but the improvement only retraced a small portion of the deterioration reported in May, according to the KBC Bank/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index.

The index rose to 81.1 in June from 79.4 in May. KBC Bank said the limited recovery in the June reading suggests that the earlier deterioration was not just a statistical blip.

“Our sense is that consumers feel that a recovery may be taking hold but this is not translating into their circumstances,” the bank said.

The marginal rise in Irish consumer sentiment occurred against a backdrop of divergent trends in confidence measures elsewhere. In the US, sentiment also saw a partial recovery after a fall in May, consumers in the UK were at their most confident since April 2005 while euro area consumers reported an unexpected worsening in sentiment.