Consumer sentiment in South Korea remained strong but did not improve from the previous month, data showed Friday, leaving room for policymakers to implement additional stimulus.
The overall consumer sentiment index (CSI) reached 107 in September, staying flat from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. A reading above 100 means that optimists outnumber pessimists.
The data showed that sentiment on current living conditions edged up to 93 from 92 in the previous month. The outlooks for household income and consumer spending also gained one notch each.
Consumer outlook on the economy, however, turned negative to fall to 97 from 100. The index for the job market outlook also weakened to 94 from 96.
The data comes a month after the central bank lowered the policy rate by a quarter percentage point to prevent downbeat sentiment materializing into actual economic problems.
Consumption has hit a snag in Asia's fourth-largest economy following the deadly ferry Sewol sinking in mid-April that killed more than 300 people.
The central bank kept the base rate on hold this month to gauge the policy impact of the rate cut and ongoing government measures.
The CSI survey of 2,200 households across the nation was conducted on Sept. 12-19. (Yonhap)