Consumers more willing to spend in Q1

Chinese consumer spending intentions rebounded to their highest level since the third quarter of 2010 in the first three months of the year, according to a Nielsen report published on Wednesday.

"Instead of calling it a significant increase, we look at it as a 'back-to-normal' trend," said Yan Xuan, president of Nielsen in China, "as consumer optimism in both personal finances and purchase intentions suffered a huge decline in the fourth quarter of 2012, largely due to big fluctuations in the Chinese stock market."

The latest Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions showed the Chinese consumer confidence index stood at 108 in the first quarter of 2013, unchanged from the previous quarter and 15 percentage points higher than the global average.