Investor confidence boost in Europe, Asia but down in North America

Global investor confidence fell 2.3 points to 114.3 in April, according to State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for April 2015 released on Wednesday.

The index found North American ICI decreased by 6.9 points to 122.1 from March, the European ICI rose 5.4 points to 109.7, and the Asia ICI rose 2.4 points to 91.5.

"Softer labor market growth in the US and rising equity valuations were likely key factors driving the decline in North American investor sentiment in April," said one of the index's developers, Kenneth Froot.

State Street Global Markets' senior vice president and head of global macro strategy, Michael Metcalfe, said despite fiscal troubles in Greece sovereign quantitative easing from the European Central Bank helped boost investor confidence.

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"In Asia, monetary easing by the People's Bank of China helped boost the Asian ICI," he said.

The index measures investor confidence or risk appetite quantitatively by analysing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. A reading of 100 is neutral and the level at which investors are neither increasing nor decreasing their long-term allocations to risky assets.