The consumer confidence index this month rebounded from a one-year low last month, as all six subindices increased, a report released yesterday by National Central University said.
The index grew 8.83 points month-on-month to 72.2, and rose 8.53 points on an annual basis, the report said.
The report was based on a survey of 3,060 people aged 20 or older from across Taiwan between May 18 and Tuesday last week, the university said.
Photo: CNA
Six subindices are used to gauge the public’s sentiment over the next six months: consumer prices, household finances, economic climate, job opportunities, stock investments and purchases of durable goods.
This month, people’s expectations of stock investments increased the most, climbing 34.7 points from last month to 59.35, as the TAIEX continued to hit new highs thanks to the artificial intelligence boom, the report said.
The TAIEX yesterday closed up 1.11 percent at 21,803.77 points, after hitting an intra-session high of 21,871.34, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Of those polled, 26.3 percent said they would invest in stocks in the next six months, compared with 9.5 percent last month, while 66.9 percent said they would stay away from the market in the near term, down from 84.9 percent last month.
The subindex on job opportunities increased by the second-largest amount, moving up 4.94 points to 69.66, followed by the household finances subindex, which rose 4.19 points to 78.84, and the subindex on purchases of durable goods, which rose 3.3 points to 111.09, the report said.
Meanwhile, the subindex on consumer prices grew the least among the six subindices, increasing 2.61 points to 31.39, as electricity rate hikes still weighed on people’s inflation outlook, it said.
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, the report said.
The index for home purchases this month increased 3.5 points month-on-month to 106.27, a survey the university conducted with Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed.
This indicated that people remained optimistic about property buying opportunities, the university said.
Of the respondents, about 38.5 percent said they intended to buy a new house in the next six months, 27.4 percent said they would not, while 34 percent said they did not know, the survey showed.
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