Biz sentiment worsens for October amid high prices, economic uncertainites

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's business sentiment worsened for October amid high commodity costs and aggressive policy tightening in major economies, a central bank poll showed Wednesday.

The business sentiment index (BSI) came to 79 for October, down three points from the previous month, according to the survey by the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The BSI for manufacturers points fell seven points on-month to 75 and the index for non-manufacturing firms also decreased 1 point to 81.

The fall is largely attributed to the rise in commodity prices, hiring costs and economic uncertainties, survey results showed.

The index measures corporate prospects for business conditions in the following month. A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists.

The BSI for large companies retreated 9 points to 78 over the cited period, and that for smaller firms slid 5 points to 72.

The BSI for exporters sank 10 points to 76, with that of domestic-oriented businesses decreasing by 5 points to 75.

The BSI survey was conducted on a total of 2,817 firms, including 1,676 manufacturers, from Sept. 14-21, the BOK said.

jwc@yna.co.kr
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