LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Confidence among institutional investors rose slightly this month, led mainly by upbeat North Americans, State Street said on Tuesday.
The U.S. financial services firm said its investor confidence index rose to 104.5 in January from an upwardly revised 104.3 in December.
It was the second month in a row the index has risen. A reading of 100 is neutral.
Confidence among North American institutional investors increased 4.4 points over December's reading of 103.5 to settle at 107.9. The Asian investor index also rose, to 98.1 from 97.5 in December.
In Europe, by contrast, institutional investors were more wary, with their index falling 5.6 points to 98.9 from the December level of 104.5.
"Institutional investors had a number of competing claims on their attention this month," said Harvard Professor Ken Froot, a co-developer of the index.
"Impressive growth numbers out of China for 2009 buttress anecdotal evidence that expansion continues apace there, lending a positive tone to a number of asset classes. At the same time, there is some evidence that while activity has picked up to a substantial degree in the developed markets, the recent pace of improvement may be difficult to sustain."
The data is extrapolated from movements in around $18.8 trillion of assets State Street holds as custodian and administrator for institutional investors. (To read Reuters Global Investing Blog click on http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting; for the MacroScope Blog click on http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope; for Hedge Hub click on http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub) (Editing by Andy Bruce)