Slight lift in business confidence in Singapore from a quarter ago: study

BUSINESS confidence in Singapore for the second quarter of this year rose slightly into the expansionary zone after hitting a historical low in the first quarter of 2016, data from the Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau (SCCB) showed on Monday.

Its latest quarterly business optimism index (BOI) study showed that BOI is marginally positive, nudging higher from a negative 2.93 percentage points in Q1 2016 to 0.89 percentage points in Q2 2016.

But on a year-on-year basis, BOI fell from 15 percentage points in Q2 2015 to 0.89 percentage points in Q2 2016.

Broadly, sentiment remains poor, with volume of sales and net profits still in contractionary mode. The construction industry emerged as the most optimistic sector, while the outlook for the manufacturing sector remains weak, SCCB said.