Turkey’s sectoral confidence indices post mixed picture in September

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Confidence in Turkey’s retail trade and services sectors grew in September while construction deteriorated month-on-month, official data showed on Friday.

The confidence index for retail trade jumped 4.8% on a monthly basis to 115.6 in September, as indices of current stock volumes and business activity-sales expectation over the next three months improved significantly, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute.

The services confidence index reached 117.8 this month, a rise of 1.5% from August thanks to increases in business sentiment and demand-turnover, the TurkStat said.

Calculated from the monthly survey, results are evaluated within a range of 0-200. Sectoral confidence indices signal an optimistic outlook when the value is above 100, and a pessimistic outlook when it is below 100.

The construction confidence index fell 0.7% to 91.8 in September, driven by drops in the sub-index of total employment expectations over the next three months.