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A range of purchasing managers' indexes (PMIs) published by
S&P Global on Tuesday showed factory activity continuing to decline in most
Asian economies at the end of last year and confidence broadly sagging.
The struggles for Asia's tech-heavy economies persisted with
South Korean factory activity dipping back into decline and Taiwan extending
its contraction for the 19th straight month, the PMIs showed.
China's Caixin PMI showed an unexpected acceleration in
activity in December, although this contrasted with Beijing's official PMI
released on Sunday that remained in contraction territory for the third
straight month.
The mixed economic prospects for China continue to cloud the
outlook for its major trading partners.
"Overall, the economic outlook for (China's)
manufacturing sector continued to improve in December, with supply and demand
expanding and price levels remaining stable," Wang Zhe, Senior economist
at Caixin Insight Group said.
"However, employment remained a significant challenge,
and businesses expressed concerns about the future, remaining cautious in areas
including hiring, raw material purchasing, and inventory management."
Beijing has in recent months introduced a series of policies
to shore up a feeble post-pandemic recovery, but the world's second-largest
economy is struggling to gain momentum amid a severe property slump, local
government debt risks and soft global demand.
Elsewhere in Asia, PMIs showed activity in Malaysia's and
Vietnam's factory sectors remained in contractionary mode, although it
accelerated slightly in Indonesia.
India's PMI for last month will be released on Wednesday and
Japan's is due on Thursday.
While Asia's December PMIs were mostly downbeat, other
recent indicators point to signs the region's post-pandemic recovery is
starting to gain traction.
Singapore's gross domestic product sped up in the December
quarter from a year earlier, helped by firmer construction and manufacturing,
data showed on Monday.
South Korea's exports also perked up in December albeit at a
slower pace as weaker Chinese demand offset robust global sales for
semiconductors, data showed on Monday. Reuters