TORONTO Body of Canada’s biggest insurance and financial services companies says nervousness among Canadian investors has risen to levels not seen because the financial crisis.
Manulife Financial states that Canadian investors have mislaid confidence in mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and balanced mutual funds within the last 6 months.
It also shows that housing is seen as a less attractive investment, while confidence in fixed income investments has stayed comparable.
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The report draws on Manulife’s semi-annual index of investor sentiment index, which dropped to 16 in December from 19 last May.
The index is based on investor opinion of a number of asset classes in addition to their confidence over these areas.
Regionally, investors in Ontario along with the Atlantic provinces were one of the most optimistic using a score of 20, while Quebec ranked lowest at nine. Alberta was second lowest at 14.
The skittishness among investors provides stock markets took a beating and Canadians head toward the RRSP contribution deadline on Feb. 29.
The Toronto Stock exchange remains pressurized in recent months and sits about 5 % reduced contrast to where it began the entire year and nearly Twenty percent less than its highs of the past year.
At once, the Canadian dollar has could hit lows not observed in greater than a decade in recent weeks.
“Canadian investors are facing plenty of uncertainties, including tremendous volatility in oil prices as well as the price of the Canadian dollar,” said Frances Donald, senior economist for Manulife Asset Management.
The poll also suggested that lots of Canadians are involved in regards to the future direction of curiosity rates.
“The financial institution of Canada remains suggesting that rates of interest are stored on hold or may even fall further within the coming year,” Donald said.
“Yet, interestingly, Forty percent of Canadian investors still expect rates to increase, highlighting the continued uncertainty over the interest rate outlook.”
The semiannual Manulife index scaled like a web-based survey completed December 2015 by Environics Research.
The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says internet surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error they do not randomly sample the populace.
The Canadian Press
