ASIAN BUSINESS SENTIMENT HIGHEST IN 7 YEARS
TOKYO: Business confidence among Asian companies rose in the October-December period to the highest in almost seven years due to robust consumption and global trade, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.
The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index, representing the sixmonth outlook of 94 firms, rose to 78 for the December quarter from 69 three months before. The index reached its highest since January to March 2011. A reading above 50 indicates a positive outlook.
Improvement in sentiment in Australia, China and South Korea drove gains in the overall index. Sentiment in Indonesia and Thailand was also strong, showing that many countries in Asia continued to benefit from accelerating global growth.
“The index shows that the slow strengthening that we have seen in the world economy has lifted business sentiment in Asia,” said Antonio Fatas, a Singaporebased economics professor at global business school INSEAD.
“Asia is a reflection of what is happening in the world,” he said.
The index measuring sentiment in Australia rose to a record high of 92 in October-December from 69 in the previous quarter.
Signs of a rebound in consumer spending, Chinese demand for Australian metals and growing capital expenditure in other sectors has underpinned sentiment.
China, upon which much of Asia depends for trade, saw its subindex rise to 83 to reach the highest since the third quarter of last year.
South Korea’s subindex rose to 83 from 50 in the previous quarter to reach the highest since the second quarter of 2011.
The subindex for Indonesia slipped to 92 in the fourth quarter from 100 in the previous quarter but remained at a high level. Sentiment in Thailand and India improved while sentiment in Taiwan fell to the lowest level in more than a year.
The index for Malaysia weakened to 64 from 75 as respondents expressed concern about consumer sentiment. Business sentiment for the Philippines fell to 70 from 83 previously, while Japan sentiment eased to 70 in October-December from 75 in the previous quarter. In Singapore, the sentiment subindex rose to 79 from 64. Reuters