8216;Investor sentiment highest in India8217;

The index also allows each market to be benchmarked and tracked against the overall investor sentiment across Asia.

Better sentiment came on the back of improving economy,household and personal financial situation,robust return on investments and confidence in the local stock market,the survey by global financial services group ING said.

It added that Indian investors8217; confidence was driven by the strong domestic growth momentum. During the first quarter of 2010-11,all three sectors of GDP 8211; agriculture,services and industry performed well,clocking in growth of 2.8 per cent,9.7 per cent and 10.3 per cent,respectively.

8220;India will continue to be an attractive investment destination,on the back of strong domestic investment and consumption demand,8221; ING Investment Management India Managing Director and Chief Executive Navin Suri said.

The Q3 2009 survey was conducted by an independent research firm,The Nielsen Company,in September 2010 and involved online interviews of 3,755 investors across the 12 markets in Asia Pacific.

India is followed by Philippines with investors8217; sentiment at 157,Thailand 154,HongKong 151,Singapore 147 and China 143.

The overall pan-Asia excluding-Japan investor sentiment index remained at the higher level of 145 for Q3 of 2010,increased from 136 in the previous quarter April-June,despite continued signs of a slowdown in the US economy,uncertainty of the Eurozone debt crisis,and threats of a global 8216;currency war8217;.

Looking ahead at the next three months,majority of Indian investors 88 per cent believed that the economic situation would improve.

Besides,a good 80 per cent of Indian investors plan to increase their exposure in the local stock market in the next quarter.

However,in Q3 2010,investors8217; expectations for the forthcoming quarter were somewhat lower than that of Q2 2010,across many key sentiment indicators on concerns of possible hardening of interest rates in the fourth quarter.