Institutional brokers sent fewer short ideas to their clients last month than at any point over the past year and a half, in a sign that the June falls in Europe's equity markets failed to dent optimism.

Only 34% of the trading ideas sent by institutional brokers to their clients last month assumed that equity prices would fall, the lowest proportion since January 2008 when the full-scale of the financial crisis was yet to unfold. Shorts represented 36% of the total last January, according to the trade idea service managed by youDevise.