• SERIX^TM data sheds light on pan-European retail investor sentiment last month
• Sentiment turned sharply bearish towards UK pound, as well as Spain and Italy
• Northern European indices remain stable, while S&P 500 grows less bearish

Spectrum Markets, the pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives, has published its SERIX^TM European retail investor sentiment data for May (see below for more information on methodology), with notable trends including bearish sentiment towards the UK pound, as well as Italian and Spanish indices.

Sentiment on the UK pound turned sharply bearish last month, recording SERIX^TM values of 91 against both the Japanese yen and US dollar respectively, down from 104 and 99 in April. SERIX^TM data also revealed continued bullish Euro sentiment against the pound, with the EUR/GBP indicator reading 107, compared to 108 in April.

Sentiment towards northern European indices remained broadly stable in May, while retail investors were less positive on Italy and Spain however, with both the MIB and IBEX dropping into bearish territory, falling to 98, compared to 106 and 107 respectively in April.

“With the British pound enjoying a strong month against the yen and dollar, particularly during the second half of May, the bearish SERIX^TM sentiment seen on GBP/USD and GBP/JPY underlyings suggests European retail investors held limited expectation of further rises and sought to capitalise on downward price movements in the short term,” notes Michael Hall, Head of Business Development at Spectrum Markets.

During May, 63.8 million securitised derivatives were traded on Spectrum, with 35.5% of individual trades taking place outside of traditional hours (i.e. between 17:30 and 9:00 CET). 85.7% of this activity was on indices, 8.9% on currency pairs and 5.4% on commodities, with the top three traded underlying markets being OMX 30 (32.5%), DAX (20%) and S&P 500 (12.5%).

Looking at the SERIX^TM data for the top three underlying markets, the OMX 30 continued the trend towards bullish seen since the start of the year, moving from 94 in April to 97 in May, while the DAX dropped into bearish territory, falling from 101 to 99. The S&P 500 remained just in the bearish zone with 99, but this marked a significant jump from 90 in April.