A weekly reading of consumer confidence has surged nearly 9 per cent in the week that Malcolm Turnbull took over from Tony Abbott as Australia’s Prime Minister.

Confidence had been down around 7 per cent over the fortnight before the Liberal leadership spill, but bounced back 8.7 per cent last week.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly confidence index is now at 114.5, slightly higher than the average of 112.7 since 1990.

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ANZ’s chief economist Warren Hogan said that with little other domestic news likely to have affected consumers over the past week, it is evident that the change of Prime Minister was the chief cause.

“The sharp jump in consumer confidence last week is a clear vote of confidence in the new Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull,” he wrote in the report.

Mr Hogan added that the index also jumped in late 2013, when the Tony Abbott-led Coalition won government.

“For the bounce to be sustained, however, the new Prime Minister and his colleagues will need to deliver a medium-term reform strategy in the context of a clear economic story for the country,” he advised.

“We believe the new Prime Minister’s first 100 days in office will be essential to formulating a new narrative for the economy that underpins confidence in the economic outlook.”

ANZ said a 25.8 per cent surge in views of economic conditions over the next year was the biggest factor behind the overall bounce in confidence.

– ABC