SYDNEY, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Australian business confidence slipped to an eight-month low in September as an interest rate hike and financial market volatility rattled executives, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The National Australia Bank monthly business confidence index fell three points to 16 from a record reading in August, its first fall in 2007.

NAB chief economist Alan Oster said the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) decision in August to raise interest rates by 0.25 points to 6.50 percent had dented business confidence.

TOKYO, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's top executives remain upbeat despite recent financial market turmoil, with business confidence holding steady close to a two-year high, a central bank survey showed Monday.

Companies also upgraded their plans for spending on new factories and equipment slightly, helping to keep the overall economic recovery on track.

But while major manufacturers remained more optimistic than expected, non-manufacturers and smaller companies turned more cautious, according to the Bank of Japan's closely watched Tankan survey of over 10,000 firms.

TOKYO, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - Business confidence among major Japanese manufacturers held steady in the three months to September, defying market forecasts for a deterioration, a central bank survey showed Monday.

Business sentiment was stable at 23, unchanged from three months earlier, the Bank of Japan's closely watched Tankan survey showed.

Economists had predicted, on average, that the index would fall to 21.

TOKYO, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - Japan's top executives have become more cautious due to the recent financial market shake-out, rising costs and a stronger yen, a key central bank survey is expected to show Monday.

The Bank of Japan's Tankan report may also show Japanese companies are scaling back their capital investment plans, analysts said.

Increased uncertainty about the health of the US economy in the wake of a credit squeeze sparked by rising defaults in US subprime, or risky, mortgages is expected to have hit sentiment, they said.

BRUSSELS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Europe's economic outlook darkened Friday as business and consumer confidence plunged in the face of a surging euro, record oil prices and volatile financial markets.

Amid mounting pessimism, top officials from the 13-nation eurozone voiced growing concerns about the strength of the euro, which hit a new high against the dollar.

Adding to the pall, inflation rose above the European Central Bank (ECB)'s preferred level for the first time in a year, increasing pressure to raise interest rates just as the economy starts to weaken.

BRUSSELS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The economic outlook in Europe took a distinctly downward turn on Friday as business and consumer confidence plunged in the face of a surging euro, record oil prices and volatile financial markets.

Adding to the pall spreading across Europe, inflation rose above the European Central Bank (ECB)'s preferred level for the first time in a year, increasing pressure to raise interest rates just as the economy starts to weaken.

BRUSSELS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Confidence in the European economy dropped more sharply than expected in September, led by tumbling sentiment in regional powerhouse Germany, a European Union survey released Friday showed.

The European Commission's eurozone economic sentiment indicator retreated in September to 107.1 points in the single currency bloc from 109.9 in August against economists' expectations for 109.1.

PARIS, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - A key indicator of French consumer confidence fell six points in September to minus 21 from minus 15 in July, the French statistics office Insee said.

The survey is monthly except for August.

Economists polled by Thomson Financial News had been expecting the indicator to fall to minus 17.

The indicator represents the balance in percentage points between consumers having experienced, or who are expecting, a rise in their living standard and those seeing a decline.

BERLIN, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Frothy milk prices, subprime fears and weaker job prospects have undercut consumption pillars of the German and US economies, studies on both sides of the Atlantic show.

The first two factors sapped shopper morale in the eurozone's biggest economy this month, a survey released Wednesday by the German GfK institute found.

In the United States meanwhile, consumer confidence tanked in September to almost a two-year low amid faltering business and job market conditions, the Conference Board said one day earlier.

BERLIN, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Frothy milk prices and subprime fears sapped the morale of consumers in the eurozone's biggest economy this month, a survey by the German GfK institute found.

The leading barometer of German household confidence fell to an indexed 6.8 points from a revised level in August of 7.4, its second drop in as many months, a GfK statement said Wednesday.

'The credit crisis in the United States and rising food prices are primarily responsible for the decreased tendency to spend' by consumers, the institute added.