The majority of European investors believe buoyant financial markets do not reflect underlying weaknesses in the eurozone, according to Fitch Ratings' quarterly investor survey released on Monday.

"The doubters are in two camps: 29 percent who feel that this is a short-lived period of market calm; and 30 percent who said markets are irrationally exuberant, ignoring the weak economic outlook for Europe," said the international credit rating agency.

"The remaining 41 percent of survey respondents think the worst of the crisis is over due to strong support from the ECB and policy makers," it added.

Highlighting "a stark dichotomy between the continuing recession with rising unemployment across Europe and the rally in financial markets," the agency said if the latter is not validated by economic stabilization and progress towards banking union, the danger is that market volatility will return with a vengeance over the summer, as it did in 2012 and 2011.

In the survey, concerns for the economy were also evident in investors' views on recession and inflation risk. Eighty-six percent said a prolonged recession posed a high risk to the European credit markets, up from 69 percent in the last survey.

Fitch conducted the quarterly survey between 3rd April and 7th May. It represents the views of managers of an estimated 8.6-trillion-euro of fixed-income assets. The full survey results will be published in mid-May. Endi

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