According to a survey by global financial institution ING, India retains the position of being the most optimistic market in the first three months of 2008, but the rise in investor sentiment was a minuscule 0.6 per cent against the previous quarter.

India's investor sentiment index rose to 168 for the first quarter (Q1) of 2008 from 167 in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the calendar year 2007.

The ING Investor Dashboard survey measures and tracks sentiment and behaviour of mass affluent investors each quarter from 13 Asia-Pacific markets including India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Each market covered is assigned an investor sentiment score ranging from 0 (least) to 200 (most optimistic). Although Indian and other Asian investors remain cautiously optimistic for longer term and might think the worst is over, domestic investors are among those who are more bullish about the market, the survey revealed.