BUSINESS SENTIMENT IMPROVES FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE QUARTER
Business sentiment improves further in the current quarter, hitting a new peak in six consecutive quarters
BUSINESS sentiment among Malaysian companies has improved further for the third consecutive quarter in the fourth quarter (Q4) of this year, reaching its new peak in six consecutive quarters.
According to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Malaysia’s Business Optimism Index (BOI) study, overall BOI climbed from 3.4 percentage points in the third quarter (Q3) of this year to 5.52 percentage points in the fourth quarter.
Six business indicators under the quarterly BOI study include volume of sales, net profit, selling price, inventory level, employees and new orders.
Under the study, D&B said three sectors — construction, manufacturing and services — had emerged as the most optimistic with all six indicators each in the positive territory.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, D&B said BOI rose from 3.83 percentage points in the Q4 last year to 5.52 percentage points in the Q4 this year.
D&B said on a y-o-y basis, four of six business indicators have improved for Q4 this year.
Both volume of sales and net profit have moderated downwards from seven percentage points in Q4 last year to 5.03 percentage points in Q4 this year and from seven percentage points in Q4 last year to 5.33 percentage points in Q4 this year.
Besides that, it said selling price increased moderately from 0.5 percentage points in Q3 last year to 2.91 percentage points in Q3 this year.
New orders jumped from 5.50 percentage points in Q4 last year to 7.54 percentage points in Q4 this year.
Inventory levels climbed visibly from 0.50 percentage points in Q4 last year to 6.53 percentage points in Q4 this year.
In addition, employment levels rose from 2.50 percentage points in Q4 last year to four percentage points in Q4 this year.
D&B’s BOI was first released in Malaysia in 2013. This is the 19th edition released in the country.
The BOI is a measure of business confidence in the economy.
It is released quarterly and based on a business sentiment survey designed to capture business expectations. It is one of the most effective ways to track how the business community perceives
the business environment, and where they think it is heading to.
It is commonly used worldwide to help analysing major trends and issues concerning the business community through tracking business parameters including net profit, selling prices, new orders, inventory levels, and employee count.