SHARP DROP IN CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN AUSTRALIA DURING FEB.

AsiaPulse News, February, 2003

SYDNEY, Feb 12 Asia Pulse - Consumer confidence declined sharply in February as Australians faced bushfires and drought and global tensions intensified, a new survey shows.

The Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment fell by 7.8 per cent in February to 99.7, from 108.1 in January.

Confidence dipping below the 100 level means that pessimists now marginally outnumber optimists.

"This is a surprisingly large fall in the index," Westpac global head of economics Bill Evans said.

"We have only seen five larger falls in the index in the last 10 years.

"Those falls were all associated with major events such as recession talk, the Asian economic crisis, September 11 and some large surprise interest rate increases."...