Growth in the Irish manufacturing sector moved at the slowest pace in 21 months according to Investec’s monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
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The PMI for electronics edged higher to 49.0 in November, from 48.6 in October, the data showed.
Indian manufacturers indicated that new business inflows rose in November, marking a 25-month sequence of expansion.
The latest data highlight the two-speed nature of China’s economy as officials try to shift the economy’s focus from manufacturing to services in a transition that’s proving to be rocky.
New order growth was hampered by subdued domestic demand and competitive pressures, the survey showed.
The U.S. Markit manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.8 in November from 54.1 the previous month, with the new orders index falling to falling to the lowest since October 2013.
“The health of the [manufacturing] sector has now worsened in each of the past nine months”, Caixin said in a joint statement with Markit, a financial information services provider that compiled the PMI survey.
“The slow growth will continue in December”, he told the Global Times Tuesday. It was the second monthly improvement in a row.
It was the fourth consecutive month of decline and the lowest figure since August 2012, and slightly below the expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Prices charged also fell at the steepest rate for 20 months, suggesting the deflationary trend continued to intensify.
They noted that China’s industrial profits fell sharply, by 4.6 percent year-on-year in October.
The central bank has cut the interest-rates six times in one year but that did not work to improve the economy or spark a recovery.
Liu and Lam said there were a few bright spots in China’s economy, with profits for high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing up significantly in October. Production output and inventory continued to contract as well.
Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, said: “The massive bounce in the figure last month wasn’t quite a blip, but the pace of activity appears to have moderated in November”.
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In line with the decline in activity levels, the employment index fell by 3.3 points to 40.7 points. However, the intermediate goods sector registered a sharp growth slowdown.
