December has been characterised by a strong rise overall in asset class sentiment ahead of the new year, according to Lloyds Bank’s investor sentiment index.
Last month, nine asset classes recorded a negative score, however, this month just four of the ten asset classes surveyed showed a negative monthly score.
Overall average sentiment score of those surveyed across all asset classes increased, representing only the third positive change in average sentiment scores in the past seven months.
UK property and UK shares were the top performing asset classes at the year end, with property scoring 42 per cent, a rise of nine per cent; and shares 27 per cent, a rise of seven per cent.
The eurozone shares asset class saw one of its biggest monthly improvements, with net sentiment increasing 8 per cent to -37 per cent.
In contrast, Japanese shares saw the biggest swing in sentiment over the course of the year, falling 27 percentage points year-on-year, along with the largest monthly decrease of -16 per cent to 19 per cent.
However, Lloyds stated that with the falling price of commodities, Japan could start to benefit from this price trend.
Ashish Misra, from the wealth investment office at Lloyds Bank Private Banking, said: “Another one to watch out for is eurozone shares – with growing expectation of announcements signalling more policy intervention in 2015, which could potentially provide significant support to the asset class into next year.”
Elsewhere, gold saw a small month-on-month negative swing in sentiment over the last four months, down five percentage points to 23 per cent.
Ms Misra added: “Despite what has seemed to be a turbulent 2014, December is a positive result for overall investor sentiment asset class performance.”
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
