Shanghai consumer confidence down but investors upbeat

Shanghai's consumer confidence retreated in the third quarter of this year while investor confidence bounced back, a survey showed.

The quarterly Index of Consumer Sentiment in Shanghai, compiled by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, fell 21.9 points from the second quarter to 101.4 points but remained in positive territory.

The university's Index of Investor Sentiment, meanwhile, rose to 103.25 points in July-September, reversing the earlier decline with a rebound of 4.8 points from the previous quarter, and was flat compared to the same period last year.

For both indexes, a reading above 100 signifies optimism while one below 100 indicates pessimism.

To address the challenges and promote overall economic improvement, experts from the university recommended several measures.

The first is to improve social security to stimulate domestic consumption. To boost domestic demand, creating a positive economic cycle with good employment, high income, and active consumption is crucial, they said.

Focusing on long-term strategies during the economic transformation period is vital as well. While Shanghai's economic indicators demonstrated improvement in the third quarter, sustaining growth necessitates continued deepening of strategic layout in cutting-edge technological fields.

Xu Guoxiang, director of the university's Applied Statistics Research Center, suggested nurturing key core technologies and emerging industries to replace sunset industries, thus fostering a lasting economic foundation.

In addition, they noted that stabilizing market expectations and boosting investor confidence are also key to stimulating domestic demand. Maintaining a stable and active market environment in both the stock market and the real estate market is crucial to unleashing the wealth effect and encouraging consumption.