By Susan Fenton
HONG KONG, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Consumer confidence has dropped sharply across the globe in the past six months in the wake of the financial crisis, with consumers in South Korea, Japan and Portugal most pessimistic, a survey by the Nielsen Company shows.
Indian consumers were most optimistic, although less so than in the first half of the year. Consumers in Denmark were the second most upbeat, followed by Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
In the United States -- the world's biggest consumer market -- confidence, which plunged in the first half of this year, was only marginally lower in the second half but slightly below the global average, the survey shows.
As rising concern about the economy and job security weighed on consumers, the half-yearly Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index's global average reading fell to 84, from 88 in the first half, and a peak of 99 two years ago.
A reading above 100 is considered upbeat. The highest reading since the index's launch in 2005 was 137, an individual score for India in the second half of 2006.
In the latest survey, the U.S. score dipped to 82, from 83 in the first half and compared with 100 a year ago.
The United Kingdom scored 74 and Germany's reading was 75.
The survey, taken between Sept. 22 and Oct. 6, polled 26,292 consumers across the 52 markets.
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Taiwan suffered the biggest drop in confidence and French consumers were the fourth most pessimistic. Confidence in Brazil, however, improved with Brazilians ranked fourth most optimistic, up from eighth position in the first half.
India's index reading fell to 114, from 122 in the first half, but was the highest globally as confidence fell in 43 of 52 markets surveyed.
Lowest ranked South Korea scored just 36 index points, down from 50 in the first half, while Japan, which economists believe fell into recession in the third quarter, scored 44 points, dropping five points from the previous survey.
South Koreans are most concerned about their jobs, with 61 percent of survey respondents saying the job market looked "bad" over the next 12 months, compared with 54 percent of Japanese.
Japanese are more worried about their personal finances, with 44 percent of those polled saying the outlook for their finances would be "bad" over the next 12 months, compared with 37 percent in South Korea.
Most respondents in both markets, however, viewed the outlook for jobs and their finances as "not so good".
Neighbouring Hong Kong also saw one of the sharpest declines in consumer confidence, pushing its index reading down to 88, from 109 in the first half.
Asian consumers are big investors in the stock market and have been hit in the second half by the widening global financial crisis since the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in mid-September.
That triggered a sell-off in Asian stock and currency markets and recent economic data indicates Asia will be much harder hit than previously thought by a global economic downturn. Sixty-three percent of consumers in Hong Kong said the economy was their biggest concern, compared with 48 percent in a similar survey a year ago. Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index for H2 2008: Top 10 index readings Bottom 10 index reading India 114 South Korea 36 Denmark 112 Japan 44 Indonesia 110 Portugal 50 UAE 110 Taiwan 60 Norway 109 France 61 Brazil 109 Turkey 62 Australia 104 Latvia 65 Russia 104 Hungary 71 Philippines 102 Italy 73 Netherlands 99 Greece 73 ----------------------------------------------------- Global average 84 (Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)