China's bankcard consumer confidence rises in November

Chinese consumers using bank cards spent their money more confidently in November than a month earlier, as the economy has shown some signs of improving, according to the Bankcard Consumer Confidence Index (BCCI) released on Monday. The BCCI, compiled by the Xinhua News Agency and China UnionPay, a national bank card association, rose 0.17 points to 86.63 in November from October. A higher reading in the index signals improvement in residents' confidence to consume. On a year-on-year basis, the index was still down 0.06 points, according to the BCCI report. Consumer confidence was boosted by the country's stabilizing growth prospects and a Communist Party of China (CPC) report released last month in which the CPC vowed to improve people's livelihoods, the report said. Official data showed that the purchasing managers' index, which measures factory production in China, rose to 50.6 percent in November from 50.2 percent in October, above the 50-percent figure that demarcates expansion from contraction. The report said the value of transactions recorded at supermarkets dropped from October to November due to higher consumer prices, although transactions logged at airline ticket offices and gas stations increased. According to data released Sunday by statistical authorities, the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation in China, grew 2 percent from a year earlier in November, up from 1.7 percent in October and 1.9 percent in September, because of higher food prices. The BCCI index, first released in April 2009, is based on bank card transaction data and the analysis of structural changes in urban consumption.