Sensex to touch 22K by Dec: JP Morgan

The stock market barometer Sensex is set to touch 22,000-mark by December from the present 16,400 levels, despite a decline in the overall business confidence, says a JP Morgan Asset Management survey.

Among the eight cities where the survey was carried out, the investors in the nation's financial capital are the most optimistic as they expect the bellwether Sensex to trade between 20,000 and 22,000 by the end of the year, the survey found.

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JP Morgan AMC said investment activity of retail investors in mutual funds has revived significantly since the last quarter.

"Investors continue to maintain a positive outlook towards an increase in corporate profits and personal income respectively, while the advisor community continues to be upbeat about an increase in clients' investments," it added.

It added that even though investment sentiment is dampened by the worsening macroeconomic factors such as recessionary conditions across global markets, frequent hikes in interest rates and volatility in the domestic investment environment, investors are optmistic about the index inching towards the 22,000-mark by December.

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The report said the current corporate confidence level has hit an all-time low since its launch in July 2009.

"The results have been impacted by a significant fall in the outlook on the global economy, domestic interest rate hikes and inflationary concerns. Another interesting finding is that young investors appear highly enthusiastic about investing in MFs," JP Morgan AMC Chief Executive Christopher Spelman said.

Retail investors' activity in MFs has improved significantly since last quarter, the survey noted.

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The investor confidence index declined 8.5 points to 123.8 due to the mounting inflationary pressure along with poor governance and corruption.

The investor confidence index captures, published jointly by JP Morgan and ValueNotes, was conducted in July across Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad.

The survey focused on business and investment outlook for the following six months.