Biz sentiment falls in June for 1st time in 3 months: BOK survey
Containers are stacked at a port in the southeastern port city of Busan, June 16. Yonhap
Korea's business sentiment worsened for the first time in three months in June on sluggish construction and travel sectors, a central bank survey showed Thursday.
The Composite Business Sentiment Index (CBSI) for all industries stood at 97.7 in June, down 1.2 points from a 3 1/2-year high of 98.9 in May, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It marked the first on-month decline since March.
The index measures corporate outlooks on overall business conditions, with a reading below 100 indicating that pessimists outnumber optimists.
The CBSI among manufacturers climbed 0.4 point from a month earlier to 101.2 in June, marking the highest point since August 2022, when the reading stood at 102.9.
The manufacturing index surpassed the 100 mark for the second consecutive month after topping the 100 threshold in May for the first time since August 2022.
However, the index among nonmanufacturers went down 2.1 points to 95.4 weighed down by low business sentiment among construction and travel-related companies.
The outlook for July also dropped 2.4 points to 95.2 from the previous month's prospect of 97.6, the survey showed.
The economic sentiment index, or ESI, which reflects sentiment among both consumers and businesses, went down 0.7 point to 96.8 for June.
The survey, conducted earlier this month, involved 3,184 companies, including 1,780 manufacturing firms, the BOK said.