Recent stock market weakness has done little to dent investors' confidence in shares, a survey has said.

Private investors are keeping their heads down and riding out this particular storm

ProShare chief executive Diane Hay

Three quarters of investors surveyed by shareholders' lobby group ProShare said they were still committed to holding stocks over the long term.

Just 21% of respondents said the stock market's recent slump would make them more cautious about investing in equities in the future.

The main global stock markets have been in steady decline for two years, with the UK's benchmark FTSE 100 share index down more than 40% from its September 1999 peak.

Enron effect

However, the recent wave of corporate accounting scandals has shaken investors' faith in financial statements, with 62% of respondents saying they have become less trusting of company reports and accounts.

"Private investors are keeping their heads down and riding out this particular storm," said ProShare chief executive Diane Hay.

"The current challenge is for companies to rebuild the confidence and trust of investors that events such as Enron and Worldcom have so comprehensively damaged."

Revelations earlier this year that Enron and Worldcom had misrepresented their true financial position spread doubt over the reliability of all corporate accounts, and led to a sharp sell-off in stock markets worldwide.

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