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 Both official and private measures of manufacturing activity in
China fell in December, reinforcing views the world's second-largest
economy lost some steam in the final quarter of 2013.
The HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China slipped
to a three-month low of 50.5 in December, consistent with a dip in
the government's PMI to a four-month low of 51.0. Still, both held
above the 50 point level that separates expansion from contraction.
"The economy is still growing, no doubt, but the growth momentum has
weakened," said Yao Wei, economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong.
That could temper some of the optimism about export-dependent
countries such as Japan, where the last week the Markit/JMMA
Manufacturing PMI rose to a 7-1/2 year high in December.
The manufacturing data weighed on Asian shares on Thursday, with the
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.6
percent.
The PMI report from the euro zone is due at 0858 GMT, while the
report for the United States is due at 1358 GMT.
EXPORT UNCERTAINTY
Many Asian economies are expecting a pick-up in exports given signs
that the U.S. economy, a major market for the region, is on the
mend. However, there were mixed signals in the HSBC/Markit PMIs.
Taiwanese manufacturers last month posted the sharpest expansion of
output since April 2011, and new export orders rose. But in South
Korea, new export orders dipped even as overall activity picked up
to a seven-month high.
In China, both the official and private PMIs showed export orders
contracted in December. Data on Wednesday showed South Korea's
exports to China, its biggest market, grew 8.4 percent from a year
earlier compared with 13.2 percent for exports to the United States.
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"The stronger increase in manufacturing output suggests that growth
will be sustained over the final quarter of the year, keeping the
economy on track for a gradual recovery," HSBC economist Ronald Man
said about South Korea.
"But given demand from China has still not shown signs of picking up
meaningfully, we believe the overall upswing in economic activity
will be limited."
Other PMI surveys showed the more consumer-driven economies of India
and Indonesia continued to struggle after a difficult 2013, although
there were some glimmers of hope.
India's factories lost momentum as softness in new domestic orders
offset a pick-up in demand from abroad.
As a result, the HSBC Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.7 in December
from 51.3 in the previous month.
In Indonesia, manufacturing activity in December improved to 50.9
from 50.3, underpinned by expansion in output and new orders.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Standing in Beijing, Faith Hung in
Taipei, Rieka Rahadiana in Jakarta, and Yati Himatsingka in
Bangalore; writing by Rafael Nam in MumbaiI; editing by John Mair)
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