OECD indicators point to better outlook

PARIS (Reuters) - The economic outlook for the 30-nation OECD area improved in May and there are signs that the downturn in Canada, Britain, the United States, China and India had reached a bottom, an OECD survey said on Friday.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said its composite leading indicator (CLI) for the OECD-area rose to 94.0 in May from 93.2 in April but was still 7.3 points lower than a year ago.

The indicator for the major economies in the Group of Seven climbed to 93.3 from 92.5 in April.

"OECD composite leading indicators for May 2009 point to tangible signs of improvement in the outlook of most OECD economies," the report said.

There were also encouraging signs in France and Italy, the OECD said.

"Potential recovery signals are emerging in Italy and France, with indications of troughs emerging in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, China and India," it said.

"The trough signals are more tentative in Russia."

The indicator rose for all G7 countries apart from Japan where it fell to 88.4 in May from 88.7 in April.

The CLIs for China, Russia and India all rose in May.