Consumer confidence in stock investments continued to flag this month as political turmoil weakened sentiment, according to a survey released by the National Central University yesterday.
As one of the six sub-indices used to gauge the consumer confidence index (CCI), public confidence in stock performances for the next six months lost 2.3 percentage points -- the biggest drop among the six -- from 70.5 last month, said the university's Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development.
"Political instability could be one major factor although we didn't ask the interviewees to specify their reasons," said report author Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬), who is also head of the research center, in a telephone interview.
Taiwan put a motion to recall the president on the legislative agenda for the first time two week ago, triggered by corruption allegations against President Chen Shui-bian's (
The motion failed to clear the legislature's floor yesterday.
Political tussles also had an indirect effect on consumer confidence in household finances, which edged down 0.25 percentage points to 55.65, the lowest level since 2001 when the CCI survey started.
But whether the CCI would bounce back next month still depends on political and economic developments when the poll is conducted, Chu said.
The index gauges public expectations on stock performance, household finances, purchases of durable goods, job opportunities, consumer price fluctuations and the economic outlook over the following six months.
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