http://nz.biz.yahoo.com//091105/3/fips.html

Investor confidence has soared in ASB's latest quarterly investor confidence survey, but it is less clear if an appetite for risk has returned.

In the September quarter a net 14 percent of people surveyed expected a better return on their investment in the coming 12 months.

This is a turnaround of a net 25 points in the space of only three months, the largest change in quarterly confidence in the survey's 11-year history.

"While an appetite to accept a little more risk has come with this return in confidence in the economy, people are still weighing up their options," said Nick Tuffley, ASB chief economist.

He said that the traditional safe havens in uncertain times -- rental property, bank savings and term deposits -- still headed the list of where investors thought returns were best, although all had ebbed in popularity in the last three months.

This rise in confidence has been greater than the level by which it fell following the world economic collapse in late 2008.

But there is a lack of clarity about where the best returns will come from.

The mood of investors was at a crossroads.

Rental property remained marginally ahead of bank savings as the most popular form of investment but its appeal has tracked down in the last three months.

Bank savings was the second most popular investment.

Only 6 percent of respondents currently felt shares offered the best returns.

Investors with KiwiSaver as their main form of investment were also increasingly positive about the future, with 41 percent believing KiwiSaver would give the greatest return in the next 12 months.