Investor confidence took a hit in June, according to the State Street Investor Confidence Index, which declined from 104.3 in May to 99.2 this month.

Risk appetite fell by the most among North American investors, with the index measuring this group falling 5.8 points to hit 100.4. Asian investors also lost confidence and the gauge for the region now stands at 93.2. European investors, however, appeared to take the continent’s continued debt woes in their stride, as the European confidence index rose 8.5 points to reach 87.9.

The broad drop came as a number of indicators seemed to confirm a slowdown in global growth, said Kenneth Froot, the Harvard University professor who developed the index along with Paul O’Connell of State Street Associates.

“In the US, policymakers pointed to Japanese supply disruption and elevated natural resource prices as potential culprits, but beyond these concerns there is the prospect of further slowdown in China to consider as well as the difficulties surrounding Greek sovereign debt. Institutional investors have responded to these worries and suspended for now the accumulation of risky assets that they began in May,” said Froot.

“Looking regionally, we see a continuation of the improvement in confidence among European investors that began in March,” added O’Connell. “Cumulatively the European Investor Confidence Index is up 21 points over the quarter, albeit a substantial gain from extremely low levels. A level of 87.9 still signifies risk aversion and the sales of equity positions persist, but European institutions have tempered the pace of such sales recently, perhaps in recognition of the fact that recent price moves have created more attractive valuations in certain sectors.”