adminrecover from the March 11 earthquake, signalling Asian economies are slowing as investor confidence sinks.
A purchasing managers’ index for Indian fell to 50,4 in September from 52,6 in August, HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics said in an e-mailed report yesterday.
A gauge for Australia slid to the lowest since June 2009.
In Tokyo, the Tankan index of large manufacturers was at 2 in September, compared with 6 before the quake.
Asian stocks tumbled ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers to consider measures to counter the sovereign-debt crisis, highlighting limits on the support that the region can give to global growth.
An increase in a manufacturing index for China released on October 1 suggests that the nation’s economy is so far weathering the global financial turmoil, although a separate HSBC survey indicated smaller companies are suffering.
“At the most what we can hope for is China”s resilience can help Korea and Southeast Asian economies to avoid recession,” said Frediric Neumann, co-head of Asian economics at HSBC in Hong Kong. “Asia cannot save the world.”
In India, record interest-rate increases are contributing to a slowdown. The Reserve Bank of India last week signalled it may maintain its tight monetary policy after governor Duvvuri Subbarao said inflation remains above an acceptable level. nation’s recovery.
In Tokyo, the quarterly Tankan index of sentiment at large manufacturers rose from minus 9 in June, the Bank of Japan said.
“We can be happy we’re not seeing a further slump here,” Martin Schulz, a senior economist at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
At the same time, companies are indicating “we are really not charging forward right now,” given risks in the global outlook and the continued wait for Japan’s government to implement full-scale reconstruction, he said. – Bloomberg.
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