Professional investors around the world expect stronger growth from the S&P 500 over the year ahead compared with the FTSE-100.

The research by CloseCross, which is regulated under MIFID II rules, among professional investors around the world responsible for around $380 billion in assets under management found 70.3 percent expect the S&P 500 to be higher in a year with 15.8 percent forecasting it will be significantly higher.

The study with professional investors including hedge funds, wealth managers, institutional investors, fund managers and IFAs found strong support for the FTSE-100’s performance but only 57.4% believe it will rise over the next year.

Around 16 percent - the same number for the S&P 500 – expect the FTSE-100 to be significantly higher next year, the study found.

The research with professional investors found not all of them are positive about the future for the two major indices – around 9% expect the S&P 500 to fall over the next 12 months while 14% are expecting a correction for the FTSE-100.

CloseCross  CEO, Vaibhav Kadikar, said: “There is strong support from professional investors for growth in the S&P 500 and the FTSE-100 with the S&P the favourite for the year ahead.

“That won’t necessarily mean that the indices rise every month or week and that offers opportunities for traders. CloseCross enables traders to generate returns based on their asset price predictions in any direction, including predicting stability of prices.”