Shanghai's consumer confidence rebounds in Q2

Shanghai's consumer confidence picked up steadily in the second quarter of this year even as investors remained relatively cautious about investment, a survey found.

The quarterly Index of Consumer Confidence in Shanghai, compiled by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, continued to recover in the April-June period, a 7.5-point quarterly gain but down 10.1 points year on year.

In detail, the Consumer Evaluation Index was 112.9 points, up 9.4 points from the previous quarter; and the Consumer Expectation Index was 111.7 points, rising 5.6 points from the previous quarter.

"The rebounding consumer confidence index indicates that consumers' evaluation of the current economic situation in Shanghai is generally positive," said Xu Guoxiang, director of the university's Applied Statistics Research Center.

In addition, the Income Evaluation Index of 119.2 points, which was up 10.8 points compared with the previous quarter and 4.9 points year on year, was one of the few positive annual indices in the period, reflecting rapid rise in consumer satisfaction with income.

Among them, the Home Buying Timing Index rose 6.5 points from a quarter earlier to 64.5 points, indicating that consumers' willingness to buy a home has increased with the successive introduction of a series of favorable policies earlier this year.

However, the year-on-year declines in buying sentiment for home, car and household durables suggest consumers are cautious about purchase activity.

On the other hand, the investor confidence index for the second quarter was 102.61 points, a decrease of 7.34 points year on year, indicating a weakening of investor confidence in Shanghai compared with the previous period.

Though the investor confidence index rose annually, it was still relatively pessimistic.

"The recent economic and trade friction between China, the United States, and the Europe Union has heated up, and the risk of declining export market share has increased, resulting in a pessimistic mentality in terms of investment," Xu explained.

He believed that to further stimulate market vitality and boost the confidence of Shanghai investors, it is necessary to accelerate the implementation of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in action plan, increase fiscal, financial, and investment policy support, and improve the convenience of foreign investors to participate in the Chinese market.