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SINGAPORE: Singapore's manufacturing economy contracted in September, snapping three months of expansion.
The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed a reading of 49.5 points, down 1.1 points from August.
A reading below 50 means the manufacturing economy is generally contracting.
The decline was caused by a drop in new order intakes and new export orders, along with lower production output and input prices.
For electronics, the index inched up 0.1 point to 53 on stronger growth in new orders from both the domestic and overseas markets. It was the fourth consecutive month of expansion for the sector.
Song Seng Wun, CEO and regional economist, CIMB-GK Research, said: "Singapore's reading for the month of September for PMI suggests that manufacturing activities for September declined slightly and that's not the kind of news we want to see.
"If there's one silver lining in this September PMI reading, we saw a small rebound in the tech PMI reading with stronger orders coming through. So we're keeping our fingers crossed that this might lead to modest improvement in the tech output for the month of September and contribute to a more stable reading of September manufacturing numbers when it comes out.
"In a nutshell, this PMI reading is reflective of a global environment that businesses and manufacturers are more cautious where access to funding is harder now, with a question mark over strength of consumer demand as we head into Christmas itself. This could be the first Christmas in a long time where there are more goods left on the shelf than being bought off the shelf."
- CNA/ir
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