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Business confidence across the Tasman has rebounded to its highest level in three and a half years as small, medium and large companies take comfort in Australia's strong economy.
The National Australia Bank (NAB) business confidence index for the September quarter rose two points to 12 index points, indicating businesses expect to perform well in the coming months.
The result is the highest since December 2003 and reverses the declines of the previous two quarters.
NAB head of Australian economics Jeff Oughton said in Sydney today that confidence for the September quarter was significantly above the average of six index points.
The latest index showed that about one in three Australian businesses expect minor or significant improvements in industry conditions in the September quarter, while only about 10 per cent expect a minor deterioration.
Business confidence increased significantly across most business segments -- both small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger businesses.
SMEs with annual sales turnover between A$2 million ($2.25 million) to A$3 million and slightly lower recorded highest confidence for the quarter.
SMEs across most sectors, except in construction and transport, were significantly more optimistic than bigger business about near-term business conditions.
SMEs operating in business services, financial services and construction were the most optimistic industry sectors.
Amongst bigger Australian businesses, those operating in business services were the most optimistic, followed by the construction sector and the transport sector.
Only businesses in the accommodation, cafe and restaurant sectors had a majority of respondents that expected industry conditions to deteriorate in the near term.
- AAP
