Asia PMIs: Staying in the doldrums – TD Securities

Mitul Kotecha, senior emerging markets strategist at TD Securities, notes that Asia's August manufacturing PMIs revealed ongoing weakness in the region, with 6 out of 9 country PMIs in contraction territory.

Key Quotes

“Only Thailand, Philippines, and India were at or above 50.”

“Both average and GDP weighted Asia PMIs moved lower, with the average measure in contraction for 3 straight months. Both measures of ex-China PMI also moved lower, further into contraction territory.”

“Korea (+1.7) and Singapore (+0.1) registered increases in their PMIs, while the biggest declines were seen in India (-1.1) and Indonesia (-0.6), implying a broadening out of manufacturing pressure.”

“We think the data continues to support further policy easing in the region, but also highlights the growing exposure to China’s economy and CNY gyrations. We continue to expect Asian currencies to remain under broad based pressure.”