The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in October, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.7.
That's down from 50.8 in September, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
In line with the picture for output, order book volumes decreased for the fourth month running in October. Anecdotal evidence suggested that cooling markets and weak underlying demand primarily drove the decline with some panel members specifically mentioning that stagnation across the automobiles and semiconductors industries.
Demand was also weak on an international level, as signaled by an eighth consecutive monthly fall in new export orders. Sluggish economic conditions in some of Japan's key export markets reportedly drove the latest downturn. Despite this, Japanese manufacturing firms increased their workforce levels in October, though at a softer rate than in September.
