It will be a happy new year in China, Vietnam: survey

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - They know it's going to be a happy new year in booming China and Vietnam, where consumers are confident about their job prospects, the economy and life in general, according to an Asia Pacific survey.

The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence tracks consumer confidence half-yearly for the six-month period ahead for 13 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

It said Vietnam, with its fast-growing economy and rising personal incomes, and China, with its strong economy and growing ranks of newly rich, registered the highest levels of consumer confidence for the first half of 2008.

Hong Kong and Singapore were also bullish.

But political concerns appeared to weigh on consumer confidence in Taiwan, which listed the most pessimistic outlook.

"This latest consumer confidence reading of the region is broadly consistent with the short-term outlook of economic conditions of the key regional markets," said MasterCard's regional economic adviser, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong.

The survey's rankings are based on responses on five variables: employment, economy, regular income, stock market and quality of life.

(Reporting by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)