The score for February increased by 1.9 per cent from January 2018.

UK investors feel good about global investment opportunities, returning an improved overall sentiment score of 10.9 per cent for February, according to the latest investor sentiment index from Lloyds Private Bank.

While the score is likely to have moved since the start of the month in light of the fast-paced global stock market sell-off last week, it represents an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to January, and 4.8 per cent since this time last year. 

Equities
US shares saw the biggest monthly jump in investor confidence out of all 11 asset classes surveyed. The rise of 7.8 per cent echoed a similar uplift recorded in January, and there were further improvements for UK shares (2.5 per cent), Eurozone shares (1.8 per cent) and Emerging Market shares (0.1 per cent).

Conversely, there was a small dip in popularity for Japanese shares (0.3 per cent). 

UK Assets
Both UK government bonds and UK corporate bonds were February’s biggest losers. Popularity in UK government bonds – also known as gilts - fell by 1.8 per cent and put sentiment back in negative territory at -1.4 per cent. Similarly, corporate bonds dipped 1.7 per cent to finish February at -2.4 per cent.

On the flip side, UK property continued to re-establish itself as one of the more favoured asset classes. You have to go back to June 2017 to find a sentiment score that was higher than February 2018’s score of 18.5 per cent which is up 3.8 per cent compared to last month.

“Despite our sentiment tracker scores showing good results for global equities, we know that valuation metrics reveal a number of different scenarios developing in key economies,” said Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer at Lloyds Private Bank. “Sentiment may well have shifted since the fall of stock markets from grace this week, but it’s not something for investors to be overly concerned about. US equities - this month’s most improved asset class for popularity - have been showing as extremely expensive for some time.”

Stadlmann added: “We have been anticipating a correction in global equities markets for a while now, although the historic point plunge in the US took some investors by painful surprise. If there is a positive to take away from it, it would be that investors need not panic. Given the current condition of the global economy, we would expect this correction to last for a few weeks before being followed by a recovery. For several months now, we have seen that investors in the UK continue to feel good about their prospects, with good investment conditions out there for those who know where to look. That said, you only need to consider current price fluctuations on equity markets around the globe to see the need for proactive risk management."