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The business environment all over Asia appears generally bad.

According to property consultancy firm Colliers International, amid the unexpected slowdown in a number of a major economies around the globe in the second quarter of 2013, weakened business sentiment clouded the office market in the April to June period this year.

The Colliers Asia Offi ce Leasing Market Confidence Index registered 57.6 percent, dropping for the fi rst time since the middle of 2012.

Despite a downward adjustment, the sustained above-50 percent mark of the confidence index reflected that market players still generally held a positive outlook on the Asia office leasing market, according to Simon Lo, executive director for research and advertising Asia at Colliers International.

The confidence index is a consolidation of four sub-indices covering new leasing inquiry, real estate requirements, landlords’ expectations and rental expectations.

Meanwhile, all the four sub-indices fell in the second quarter of 2013. The sub- indices for new leasing inquiries and office rental expectations recorded the strongest fall since the survey began in the fi rst quarter of 2012, registering 53.3 percent and 64.4 percent, respectively in the second quarter of this year.

Lo explained that the decline was due to a decrease in leasing activities with less confident market players amid the weaker-than-expected performance for a number of Asia-Pacific economies.

Relatively, the sub-index of clients’ real estate requirements was the strongest. This index only edged down marginally from 70.9 percent in the first quarter of this year to 68.3 percent in the second quarter and remained over 50 percent, suggesting that office tenants generally have no change in their real estate requirements.

Also in the second quarter, the banking, finance, insurance ( FIRE) and IT sectors continued to be the two most active office tenant groups; while logistics shipping sector replaced consumer products sector as the third most active tenant group.

Among the four sub- indices, the one for landlords’ expectations was the weakest at 44.4 percent in the second quarter and has kept below the 50 percent mark for four consecutive quarters. Due to the cautious expectations, landlords were more generous in offering leasing incentives to entice tenants during the quarter.

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