China's consumer confidence drops in February

Chinese consumers' confidence dipped in February on waning market demand following the Spring Festival holiday, according to an index released Friday. The Bankcard Consumer Confidence Index (BCCI), compiled by the Xinhua News Agency and China UnionPay, a national bank card association, stood at 86.69 in February, down 0.09 points from January. On a year-on-year basis, however, the BCCI index was up 0.65 points, the organizations said in a report. The decline in the index was largely blamed on the disappearance of holiday-related factors. The proportion of cardholders' spending on daily necessities, catering services and home appliances dropped by 3.44 percentage points, 0.74 percentage points and 0.46 percentage points from January, respectively. Meanwhile, banks' easing of mortgage lending criteria for home buyers and recent falls in housing prices released cardholders' demand for homes, which in turn curbed their spending on non-essentials, according to the report. The Xinhua News Agency and China UnionPay started compiling the BCCI index in April 2009 based on bank card transaction data and analyses of structural changes in urban consumption.