Mixed picture for sectoral confidence in Feb

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Confidence in Turkey's service and construction sectors diminished, while retail trade increased on a monthly basis in February, the country's statistical authority revealed on Feb. 22.

The services confidence index reached 100.4 this month, decreasing 1.4 percent from January thanks to a fall in "demand-turnover" and expectations on it, as well as business sentiment, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a statement.

Calculated with data gathered via a monthly survey, sectoral confidence indices are evaluated within a range of 0-200. Values above 100 signal an optimistic outlook, while those below indicate a pessimistic one.

The construction confidence index fell 1.3 percent month-on-month to 83.1 in February.

Compared to the previous month, the sector's current overall order books sub-index rose by 1.6 percent to 76.9. The total employment expectation over the next three months sub-index decreased by 3.6 percent to 89.3, said TÜİK.

The confidence index for retail trade was slightly up by 0.4 percent to 108.9 in the same period, as the indices of current stock volumes and business activity sales increased, it added.