Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/25/2020
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 25 (CNA) Amid escalating concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, business sentiment among manufacturers in Taiwan weakened in January, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) said Tuesday.

According to TIER, one of the country's leading economic think tanks, the reduced number of working days in January due to the 7-day Lunar New Year holiday also raised concerns over production and shipments.

Data compiled by TIER showed that the composite index for the manufacturing sector, which gauges business sentiment among manufacturers, fell 2.23 points from a month earlier to 94.16 in January.

In addition, the sub-index for the local property sector dropped 8.41 percent from a month earlier to 95.03, while the composite index for the service sector also fell 3.15 percent to 88.63, the data indicated.    [FULL  STORY]