Consumer sentiment looks up

Date: 12/08/2010

Consumers are becoming more confident about Australia's economic outlook.

The latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey showed a 5.4% rise in consumer confidence in August, following on from an 11.1% rise in July, indicating interest rate rise worries are abating slightly.

Westpac's chief economist, Bill Evans, commented that the rise represented a "strong result".

"After tumbling by 15% in the wake of three consecutive rate hikes in March, April and May the Index has now recovered by 17% in the last two months," he said.

"It is now back to around the level it reached at the beginning of this year and the level we saw prior to the beginning of the rate hike cycle in September last year," he added.