S Korea's business sentiment inches up for August

• Source: Xinhua
• [15:21 July 28 2009]
• Comments

South Korea's business sentiment for August rose from the previous month on the back of recent signs that an economic rebound is near, a local business survey said Tuesday.

According to the survey by the Federation of Korean Industries, the monthly business sentiment index, an indicator of companies' outlook for the coming month, hit 00.8 for August, down from 98.7 in July.

The figure, which falls below 100 when pessimistic view on the economy outdo optimistic ones, fell to the below-100 level after staying above the benchmark for the two consecutive months.

With both optimistic and pessimistic forecasts on the economy coexisting, the nation's central bank last week announced that the economy grew 2.3 percent in the second quarter, hitting a five-year high quarterly growth.

The central bank, however, still showed caution on the economic prospects for the second half.