ZURICH, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Swissinvestor sentiment inched up in January, a ZEW survey showed on Thursday, but a vast majority of participants still see the economy remaining weak in the next six months.
The Swiss ZEW investor sentiment ticked up to -66.7 points in January from -76.2 points in December, said Credit Suisse, which issues the indicator in cooperation with the German ZEW economic research institute.
"The results of the January survey reveal that economic expectations have brightened up just a little," Credit Suisse said. "Nearly all the experts forecast that the overall economic situation six months down the road will remain the same as it is today."
The ZEW's second indicator showed that some 41 percent of the participants considered the state of the Swiss economy now as "bad", taking the indicator for the current situation to its lowest level since the survey started in June 2006.
Investor sentiment for Germany, Switzerland's most important export market, improved more than expected in January, as a fiscal stimulus plan and lower interest rates fuelled hopes that the country will emerge from recession this summer.
The Swiss National Bank expects the Swiss economy to shrink by between 0.5 and 1.0 percent this year.
The SNB has slashed its target for the 3-month Swiss franc LIBOR by a total of 2.25 percentage points to just 0.5 percent and said it might turn to unconventional means to support the economy, including interventions to weaken the Swiss franc.
(Reporting by Sven Egenter; editing by David Stamp)