Investors fear another global recession

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

LONDON: Investors are abandoning the stock market at a rate not seen since the financial crisis of 2008 amid fears that another global recession is looming, The Daily Telegraph has found.

High inflation, the US debt crisis and ongoing problems in eurozone countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland have left ordinary investors feeling that they have “nowhere to hide”, experts said.

The amount of money placed in investment funds by savers has fallen by up to 90 per cent in recent months, figures show, as investor confidence hits lows not seen since the depths of the recession three years ago.

Instead, savers are rushing to put their money in perceived “safe havens”, with sales of gold funds rising by nearly 60 per cent last week.

Increasingly, people are opting to invest simply in cash, even though rising inflation means that they are effectively losing money.

The growing uncertainty in the safety of the stock market came as the FTSE 100 index dropped by one per cent - wiping £15billion off the value of Britain’s most successful companies after poor economic data from the United States. The index has fallen two per cent in the past week.