The consumer confidence index this month rose a mild 0.34 points to 69.4 with all subindices increasing, as people grew more optimistic about stock investments, a survey released yesterday by National Central University showed.
The sentiment gauge picked up for the second straight month, mostly due to recent rallies in the local stock market on the back of global fund inflows, said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development, which conducted the survey.
The subindex on stock investment timing reported the biggest advance of 0.83 points to 50.39, the highest in 22 months, after the TAIEX rose firmly above the 17,000-point level, Wu said.
Photo: CNA
Foreign investors have displayed greater interest in local shares after major Taiwanese tech firms gave positive guidance about their businesses and the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged in their past two policy meetings, he said.
The Fed has said it would keep interest rates at high levels for an extended period of time to combat inflation, which would limit corporate and consumer spending, economists have said.
However, if the US’ and China’s economies fail to perform satisfactorily, Taiwan’s exports would take a hit and drag the GDP reading, Wu said.
Confidence values of 100 or more suggest optimism, while scores below the threshold indicate pessimism.
The measure of consumer prices inched up 0.33 points to 28.39, while the reading on purchases of durable goods rose 0.28 points to 111.28, the confidence survey showed.
The subindex on the economic performance increased 0.23 points to 81.84, while the indicator on household income condition rose 0.2 points to 77.06, it said.
The confidence reading on the job market rose 0.19 points to 68.71, it added.
Sentiment changes of less than 2 points are not considered significant, National Central University said.
The survey is based on responses from 2,971 adults contacted by telephone between Nov. 18 and Tuesday last week.
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