Taiwan investors prefer high-risk,high-return investment, and their willingness to take risks is closely related to their self-confidence and body mass index (BMI),according to a recent survey.

The survey, reaching here from Taipei on Thursday, was jointly conducted by Shih Hsin University and Business Today magazine.

The survey result finds that Taiwan investors are more likely to be attracted by high-risk investments that yield high returns, and that their weight and degree of optimism also affect their decision-making.

When asked which pattern they would opt to follow in investment terms, 12 percent earnings on the benchmark index accompanied by 10 percent personal profits or 6 percent benchmark index earnings with 8 percent personal yield, 55 percent of the 868 respondents said they would choose the latter, ahead of 45 percent that showed preference for the former.

At the same time, 87 percent said that they would opt for an investment that yields 5 percent in benchmark earnings accompaniedby 3 percent in personal earnings in contrast to only 13 percent that chose an investment that would see a -5 percent market benchmark performance with -3 percent in personal earnings, the polls shows.

Some 49 percent said that they would postpone buying shares when they learn negative reports about the same stocks, while 51 percent said they would remain unchanged on their decision to buy.

The survey indicates that investors with greater self-confidence and those capable of bearing bigger risks tend tobelieve that they can exceed the performance of the market benchmark and are more likely to adopt bolder investment strategies.

According to the survey, the BMI index is in direct proportion to one's degree of optimism, meaning that fat optimistic people with a BMI index over 25 dare to invest more boldly than skinny pessimistic ones with a BMI index lower than 20.

The BMI index is used to assess underweight, overweight and risk for overweight.

The "investor mood" survey was conducted from Oct. 14-2 and reached the conclusion that the sentiment of Taiwan investors toward the domestic stock market is deteriorating, with the " investor mood index" dropping to a historic low for October.

Source: Xinhua