Print

Mail

wiki links

Consumer confidence rises for second month

Consumer sentiment strengthened for the second straight month, as the red-hot stock market has helped boost optimism about consumption, a new survey released by the National Central University yesterday indicated.

The consumer confidence index rose 2.11 points to 68.34 last month, said the university's Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development, which conducted the monthly survey.

The center polled 2,379 people over the age of 20 nationwide between last Friday and Sunday.

Confidence in the equity investment for the next six months was the sub-index that saw the biggest jump -- by 12.6 points to 95.30 -- survey results showed.

The TAIEX has posted gains for the past two months and hit a new seven-year high on Tuesday of 9,744.06. The prospects for the local bourse seems rosy, as a number of securities houses expect the weighted index to surpass the 10,000 mark and perhaps even hit 12,000 by the end of the year.

This partially accounted for the rising optimism about the economy expressed by consumers and the purchase of durable goods for the second half of the year, the poll said.

Nevertheless, respondents appeared pessimistic about future commodities prices, with the sub-index dropping by 1.95 points from a month earlier to 30.65, a record low since the survey was initiated in January 2001. The continual rise in raw material prices since the beginning of the year was blamed for this pessimism.

Wholesale gasoline prices hit a record high after the floating oil prices system was introduced. State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) announced a markup on Tuesday that brought 98-octane unleaded gasoline to NT$31.3 per liter.

To ease public concern over possible inflation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs asked CPC to initiate such subsidies -- NT$2 per liter of gasoline for taxis and NT$3 per liter of diesel for buses.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday that it would offer a fuel subsidy of NT$3 per liter to bus and truck operators. The private oil refiner, however, would not match the subsidy for taxi drivers, public relations officer Matiz Lin (林明憲) said by telephone yesterday.

The company would instead give discounts to gas stations selling its products, Lin said. The range of the discounts would depend on the volume of the gasoline being purchased by gas stations, he said.

Stations using Formosa Petrochemical's products -- including Formosa Life Station (台亞石油) and National Petroleum Corp (全國加油站) -- could offer promotions to all their customers, he said.

Lin did not say how much the company might lose by offering the discount. CPC has estimated that it would lose NT$169 million (US$5.15 million) per month by offering the public transport subsidy.
This story has been viewed 1014 times.