Mubasher: US consumer confidence saw a surprise improvement in late November, according to the University of Michigan.

The consumer sentiment index rose to 96.8 points in the second half of November, from the final figure of 95.5 points in October, according to the university’s survey report.

Meanwhile, analysts surveyed by Dow Jones expected sentiment to drop to 94.9 for November.

“In 30 of the past 35 months the sentiment index was 95.0 or higher, a level of optimism second only to when the Index was above 100.0 for 34 out of 36 months from January 1998 to December 2000, averaging 106.0,” the University of Michigan director consumer survey Richard Curtin said.

The current economic conditions index, however, dropped by 1.4% month-on-month to 111.6 points in November, from 113.2 in the prior month, while it ticked down by 0.6% from the estimates during the same month last year.

The expectation gauge rose to 87.3 points in from 84.2 in the prior month.

“To be sure, there is ample reason for both optimism as well as pessimism, but not the extreme differences voiced by these groups,” Curtin said.

By 3:21 pm GMT, the US dollar index rose by 0.13% to 98.1210.