SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Yonhap) -- An index indicating South Korean companies' business outlook has dipped to a 12-month low with a majority of local firms forecasting sluggish conditions for nine consecutive months, the index showed Thursday.
The business survey index (BSI) for February came to 87.7, the lowest since 86.3 registered for February 2016, according to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).
A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, while a reading above the benchmark means the opposite. The monthly survey is conducted on the country's top 600 businesses.
The reading for February marked a drop from 89.9 registered for this month.
With the February reading coming to a 12-month low, the index has also remained below the benchmark for nine consecutive months since 102.3 registered for May 2016, according to the FKI.
"The downturn in the domestic market is expected to deepen amid a slowing increase in consumer spending," it said. "There also remain a number of negative external factors, such as a spread of trade protectionism following the inauguration of the Donald Trump administration in the U.S. and Britain's hard exit from the European Union."
The FKI noted the central bank has estimated the country's consumer spending to have gained 2.4 percent on-year in 2016, while it forecasts the rate of increase to further slow to 1.9 percent this year.
An index gauging local companies' sentiment toward their exports came to 95 for the upcoming month, compared with 95.5 for January. The index on domestic consumption suffered an even steeper drop from 96 to 90.5 over the cited period.
A separate BSI on the actual performance of local businesses came to 89.2 in January, slipping from 91.1 in the previous month and marking the lowest level in three months since October 2016.
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