Business sentiment among domestic firms fell below par in April, amid rising raw material prices and expected foreign exchange losses stemming from ongoing global crises and incidents.

According to the Federation of Korean Industries(FKI) on Wednesday, the business survey index(BSI) of the top 600 companies by sales for the month of April stood at 99-point-one.

The index returned below 100 after entering positive territory in March, indicating that pessimists now outnumber optimists, as demonstrated by a sub-100 score.

The FKI cited soaring raw material prices and expected exchange losses due to the prolonged crisis in Ukraine as well as COVID-19 lockdowns in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen as factors that led to the growing pessimism.

The forecasts for employment, investment and the domestic economy remained above 100, while those for profitability, exports and the financial situation fell below par.