April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean manufacturers’ business sentiment for January stayed unchanged from this month, central bank data showed on Dec. 28.

The business survey index of manufacturing firms came to 82 for the first month of 2018, remaining unmoved from the number for December, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.

A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, while a reading above the benchmark means the opposite.

An index measuring local firms’ sentiments toward exports came to 95 for next month, up from 89 for December, while an index for domestic sales stood at 89 for January vis-a-vis 87 for December.

The number gauging local firms’ views toward profitability stood at 87 for January, unchanged from December, according to the BOK.

The BSI of nonmanufacturing firms stood at 78 for January, down from 80 in December.

The monthly index is based on a survey of 2,821 companies throughout the country from Dec. 11 to 18.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)