Asia’s Factories Show Mixed Recovery as Japan, India Gain

(Bloomberg) -- Asia's factories showed more fitful progress in September, with India seeing a jump in sentiment and Japan making a slow and steady recovery, manufacturing gauges show.

Japan's purchasing managers index rose to 47.7, its highest since February, from 47.2, while Vietnam improved to the best in more than a year, according to IHS Markit figures released Thursday. India's gauge jumped to 56.8, its highest in more than eight years, as it continues a rebound from a record-low of 27.4 in April.

Thailand and the Philippines also edged higher from the previous month.

Indonesia slumped below 50, the dividing line between contraction and expansion, as Jakarta reintroduced restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus cases, hurting businesses. Malaysia's PMI retreated and remained in contraction.

Conditions across Southeast Asia's manufacturing sectors “remained challenging at the end of the third quarter,” Lewis Cooper, an economist at IHS Markit, said in a statement. “With virus cases rising in some countries and in other parts of the world, the downside risks from the reintroduction of stricter lockdown measures are concerning.”

Manufacturing PMIs for Taiwan and South Korea, which usually are reported on the same day as the others, will be released Oct. 5. South Korea separately showed brighter economic data Thursday, with the trade ministry reporting exports gained 7.7% in September from a year earlier with the help of two-and-a-half additional working days.

A separate report Wednesday showed Chinese economic activity continuing to gain momentum. Both the manufacturing and non-manufacturing purchasing managers' indexes rose further into expansion in September, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. A sub-index of new export orders expanded for the first time this year.

The Caixin Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, typically also released on the same day as the other Asia PMIs from Markit, is scheduled for release Oct. 8.

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