The Conference Board said on Tuesday that U. S. consumer confidence rose in April for the second consecutive month of gains.

The monthly Consumer Confidence Index, which uses 1985 as a base year with an assigned value of 100, rose from 52.3 to 57.9 after dropping 10 points in February and rising 6 points in March.

It was reported that in April, the monthly survey of 5,000 households, found the number of respondents indicating economic conditions were "good" rose from 8.5 percent to 9.1 percent. The number of respondents, indicating conditions were "bad", fell from 42.1 percent to 40.2 percent.

According to the official reports, respondents indicating jobs were "plentiful" rose from 4 percent to 4.8 percent and those indicating jobs were "hard to get" fell from 46.3 percent to 45 percent.

Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said, "Consumer confidence, which had rebounded in March, gained further ground in April. The index is now at its highest reading in about a year and a half." (With Inputs from Agencies)