Australian Business Confidence improved as expected in the first quarter from the three months to December 2008 according to National Australia Bank (NAB). Importantly, the metric continues to show contraction with a print in negative territory. Indeed, NAB chief economist Alan Oster remained cautious after seeing an uptick in the March result, saying, “While an element of fear appears to be abating, the index is still quite low [and] points to falling demand in the first quarter.”