South Korea's business sentiment inched up this month...thanks to signs of a recovery in the country's shipbuilding industry.
However, overall sentiment is still low...and the outlook for December remains gloomy.
Ko Roon-hee reports.
After hitting its lowest point in almost two years in October, business sentiment among Korean firms inched up this month.
The Bank of Korea's business survey index for November... came to 74... up 1 point from the previous month.
A reading below 100 means there are more pessimists about the local economy than optimists.
The central bank attributed the increase to the nation's shipbuilding industry reporting slightly better figures after years in a slump.
A report from Hyundai Research Institute released earlier this month showed that shipbuilding production was not falling as fast in the third quarter as it was a year earlier.
The institute said local shipyards have found more opportunities for exports thanks to growth in the market for LNG carriers.
But even though sentiment has ticked up, the situation is still grim for Korea overall... now in a fifth straight month with the sentiment index stuck below 80.
The BOK says oil refineries reported especially low sentiment following a plunge this month in oil prices.
In October, Dubai crude, South Korea's benchmark, hit its highest price in almost four years,... trading at more than 80 dollars a barrel.
But in the last week of November, it's dipped below 60 dollars.
Separate data Tuesday from the Korea Economic Research Institute also paint a grim picture.
Sentiment for December... among the nation's top 600 companies by sales... stood at 88-point-7,... the lowest since February last year.
It's the second month in a row the forecast has fallen,... and the outlook is especially negative among manufacturers.
Economic experts say the government's regulatory reforms and new investment incentives could help turn things around.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.
