ISA investors are turning their attentions to the stock market as a growing number believe it will produce more profitable returns than cash investments, according to The Share Centre.

The retail stockbroker has revealed that a significant proportion of ISA investors are unhappy with the interest rates offered on cash ISAs, with 44 per cent believing that equities will prove more lucrative than cash in the forthcoming months.

However, one in five investors intends to have a diversified investment portfolio this year by holding both cash and stocks.

In contrast, only 10 per cent of investors plan to stick to cash only investments, while just three per cent said they could not afford to invest in the stock market at this time.

Meanwhile, The Share Centre has also found that three quarters of investors think the stock market has provided ‘good opportunities’ for savvy investors over the past six months, with it being ‘a good time to pick up bargain stocks’ as the market recovers from the banking crisis.

With the end of the 2009/10 tax year just over a week away, Nick Raynor, investment adviser at The Share Centre, is encouraging investors to make the most of the ‘tax wrapper’ that an ISA can offer or “risk losing their allowance for ever”.

“Record levels of government spending and borrowing as a result of the financial crisis, means that over time higher personal taxation is inevitable. As such, it is imperative that investors make the most of the tax breaks available to them,” he said.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd