Chinese consumer confidence improved for the second straight month in October to the strongest level in six months, led by a significant rise in consumers' willingness to spend, results of a survey by the Deutsche Boerse Group's MNI Indicators showed Wednesday.
The Westpac MNI consumer sentiment indicator climbed to 117.1 in October from 115.2 in the previous month.
Moreover, this was the highest reading since April, when it marked 117.8. A score above 100 indicates optimists outnumber pessimists.
Two of the five components of the headline indicator improved in October.
The current personal finances index came in at 111.3 in October, up from 105.4 in September. Meanwhile, The expected household finances worsened, with the index falling to 111.5 from 113.6.
The indicator for durable buying conditions rose notably to 116.0 in October from 105.1 a month earlier.
"The lacklustre picture on business conditions is clearly still a headwind feeding into consumer concerns about job security and a 'risk averse' attitude to spending and saving decisions," Matthew Hassan, senior economist at Westpac, said.
"Even with the latest gain it still looks like a sustained turnaround in business conditions will be required to drive a stronger and broader upturn for consumers."
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