September saw a return of investor optimism in Asia, Europe and the US, according to a temperature measure by State Street Corporation.

Investors worldwide were feeling more confident last month, after market volatility dampened the mood in August.

A global indicator of investor sentiment, the State Street Investor Confidence Index - which looks at investors' allocation to equities - saw overall confidence climb 7.2 points to 116.6 in September.

The pick-up in attitudes reversed last month’s fall, which was brought on by fears of a China-led slowdown, and was driven by a rise in the North American ICI from 120.6 to 133.2. This came amid a further delay of the US Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate hike.

Confidence among Asian investors rose by 5.4 points to 97.8 over the month as stock markets appeared to settle, while in Europe the ICI increased 2.2 points to 95.7.

“In the current environment of elevated tail risk, indications that the Fed is embarking upon a more shallow rate hiking cycle should help both alleviate market volatility and stabilize [the] global growth outlook, and this has been reflected in sentiment more broadly this month,” said Ken Froot, founding partner of State Street Associates.

“Emerging markets are grappling with a range of headwinds constraining their growth,” added Jessica Donohue, executive vice president and chief innovation officer of State Street Global Exchange. “A delayed rate hike extends the loose monetary policy environment, easing concerns over EM.”