The consumer confidence index (CCI) this month rose for a third straight month as all six subindices pointed upward, a report released yesterday by National Central University said.
The CCI increased 1.73 points month-on-month to 68.39, while rising 5.34 points from a year earlier, the report said.
The report was based on a survey of 2,946 people aged 20 or older from across Taiwan, and was conducted from Monday to Thursday last week, the university said.
Photo: CNA
The six subindices used to gauge the public’s confidence over the next six months all moved upward, with the gauge on stock investment posting the largest increase while the economic climate subindex showed the smallest growth, the report said.
Other subindices measure the level of confidence people have regarding employment prospects, household finances, consumer prices and purchases of durable goods.
STOCK EXPECTATIONS
People’s expectations regarding the performance of stocks in the near future climbed 5.1 points to 49.2, as about 20.9 percent of those polled said they would invest in stocks in the next six months, compared with 18.1 percent last month, the report said.
About 71.6 percent said they would stay away from the stock market in the near term, down from 74 percent last month, while 7.5 percent were undecided about investing in stocks, down from 7.9 percent last month, it said.
As more research institutes trimmed their GDP growth forecasts for Taiwan this year, the subindex on the economic climate only edged up 0.1 points to 80.9, and the university’s poll showed that just 6.9 percent of people were upbeat about the economic outlook over the next six months, while 40.8 percent were worried that the economy would continue to lose growth momentum in the near term.
About 52.2 percent of the respondents maintained their view on the economy this month, compared with 51.9 percent last month, the report said.
PESSIMISM
While the consumer confidence index rose this month, five of its subindices were still below 100 points, indicating that the public is relatively pessimistic about the next six months, except for the gauge on purchases of durable goods, which rose 2.05 points month-on-month to 111.75, the report said.
The university also yesterday revealed a survey it conducted together with Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋), which showed the index for home buying this month increased 2.1 points from a month earlier to 107.35.
The university said it indicated that people remained optimistic about property buying opportunities over the next six months, with about 41.4 percent of the respondents intending to buy new houses in the near future and 28.6 percent thinking otherwise. The remaining 30 percent said they had no idea.
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