The business climate gauge for the manufacturing sector rebounded for the second straight month last month, providing more evidence that Taiwan’s economic sentiment will show a sharper rebound in the fourth quarter, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The latest survey conducted by the Taipei-based think tank showed that the business climate gauge for the manufacturing sector rose to 90.23 points last month, from a revised 88.53 points in July, posting a rising trend for the second consecutive month.
In the survey, 25.3 percent of manufacturers said that they were optimistic about business confidence last month, up from 21.2 percent in the July survey, while 36.7 percent said that they were pessimistic, compared with 40.4 percent in July.
“The recent launch of new smartphone and tablet products might help drive up sentiment in the local electronic components segment,” Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of the institute’s macroeconomic forecasting center, said by telephone.
In addition, domestic firms in the petrochemical and precision machinery segments also saw their business showing an upturn trend, Sun added.
Asked about business prospects for the next six months, 22.9 percent of respondents felt bullish, down from 25.9 percent in the July poll, while those who felt bearish stood at 34.4 percent, up from 30.4 percent posted in July, the institute said in a press release.
However, Sun said the manufacturing sector’s sentiment may continue to recover from this month to the fourth quarter, following bottoming out in the second quarter.
A separate survey conducted by the institute showed that the business climate gauge for the service sector dropped from 1.95 points in July to 88.26 points last month, mainly because typhoons struck the country last month and further dragged down the tourism sector, the press release said.
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