(RTTNews) - The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in December, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.5.
That's up from 49.0 in November, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
New orders continued to fall and at a steeper pace compared to November. Meanwhile, output fell only slightly as higher workforce capacity supported the strongest clearance of backlogged orders since March. Input price inflation remained elevated in December, with the rate of increase the most pronounced in four months. This contributed to the steepest rise in output charges since July.
The report also said the services PMI improved to 51.4 in December from 50.5 in November.
Supporting the latest uptick in activity was a rise in new business inflows, where growth reached a four-month high. In turn, service providers hired additional staff to deal with ongoing workloads and limit the build-up of outstanding business. The level of optimism was above-average during December, but eased amid concerns over labor constraints and the impact of rising costs.
