Investor confidence drops sharply

PRESS RELEASE

Auckland, 15 April 2008

Investor confidence across Asia (ex-Japan, New Zealand and Australia) declined by 7.4% in the first quarter of 2008, according to the latest results of the ING Investor Dashboard Investor Sentiment Survey which were released today. In New Zealand, investor confidence fell by 23.7% during the same period.

ING’s quarterly survey, which tracks investor sentiment against a range of investment behaviours across 13 Asia Pacific markets , highlighted that the region is not insulated from global market uncertainty caused by the credit crunch, sub-prime crisis and the slowdown in the U.S. economy. The index suggests that most Asian investors have become more cautious in their investment strategies.

Overall the Asian index highlighted that investor confidence had declined by 7.4% across the region to 125 out of 200 for Q1 2008, down from 135 in Q4 2007 and from the high of 141, which was recorded in ING’s first survey in Q3 2007.

See Full Survey:

ENDS

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