The Asian markets closed in red on Tuesday after surveys of China’s mammoth manufacturing sector showed a further loss of momentum in the world’s second-biggest economy. China’s giant manufacturing sector contracted and exports from South Korea tumbled by the most in six years in August, rattling Asian markets and reinforcing expectations that policymakers will need to ease policy further. Manufacturers across Asia struggled last month, denting hopes of a pick-up in the second half of the year as the region tries to fire its traditional growth engine of exports. The Chinese government’s measure of manufacturing showed activity contracted at the fastest pace in three years, while a survey by Markit, which focuses more on smaller, private firms, showed the factory sector’s weakest performance in 6-1/2 years. Even China’s services sector, which has been one of the few bright spots in the sputtering economy, showed alarming signs of cooling, expanding at its slowest rate in more than a year. Other surveys by Markit showed manufacturing struggling across Asia: an 11th successive contraction in Indonesia, a sixth contraction in South Korea and the weakest reading in nearly three years in Taiwan. Activity in India also slowed from July, although it was still expanding. In a signal of slowing global demand, exports from South Korea dropped by nearly 15 percent in August from a year earlier, with shipments to China, the United States and Europe all weaker. Indonesian Inflation fell to a seasonally adjusted 7.18%, from 7.26% in the preceding month.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,166.62 | -39.36 | -1.23 |
Hang Seng | 21,185.43 | -485.15 | -2.24 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,412.46 | -97.15 | -2.15 |
KLSE Composite | 1,609.21 | -3.53 | -0.22 |
Nikkei 225 | 18,165.69 | -724.79 | -3.84 |
Straits Times | 2,882.77 | -38.67 | -1.32 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,914.23 | -27.26 | -1.40 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,017.56 | -157.36 | -1.92 |