German manufacturing up, France slows: surveys

The final Caixin China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, which was released yesterday, dropped to 47.8 points for the month, its lowest level since July 2013, and down from 49.4 a month earlier.

ACTIVITY in SA’s private sector declined in July, with output and new orders contracting the most in more than a year, a survey showed on Wednesday.

“While it was welcome news to see a return to growth of activity in the Indian service sector during July, we are still looking at a modest improvement at best”, said Andrew Harker, senior economist at Markit, which compiles the survey, said.

While growth in the services sector picked up slightly, offsetting some of the drag from persistent factory weakness, services companies reported new orders were cooling and said they were cutting jobs at a faster pace.

The latest Markit/CIPS UK Construction PMI index fell from a four-month high in June of 58.1 to 57.1 in July.

RBI, in its last policy review on June 2, had cut the repo rate by 0.25 per cent for the third time this year to spur investment and growth, but hinted that there may not be any more cuts in the near term.

The report attributed the slower output rate to the manufacturing sector, which registered the quickest reduction of output since November 2011.

Elsewhere, in Italy, the manufacturing PMI hit a 51-month high reading of 55.3 in June, exceeding market expectations for a rise to 53.9.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. He did note, however, that declining company optimism meant that “firms are expecting growth to slip further in coming months”.

It also revealed that firms hiked prices at the strongest pace since February, in spite of a slowdown in their input cost inflation, which fell to a three-month low.

Manufacturing PMI data on Monday also failed to impress after growth in the sector remained near stagnant as new orders grew at their slowest rate for nearly a year.

Manufacturing employment increased for the 27th successive month in July, data showed.

The disappointing results are the latest in a string of weak economic data highlighting the country’s struggling stocks, sluggish property market and weak demand at home and overseas.