Sorry, but Singapore's electronic cluster is still down 4.8%

Is there any silver lining?

According to UOB Economic-Treasury Research, they were encouraged by the 2nd month of consecutive growth seen in the electronics cluster as it climbed out of a 24 month sequential on-year contraction that started since April 2011.

Analysts also said that in May, this cluster expanded 4.3% y/y, up from the 1.6% y/y seen a month earlier. The support in this cluster came mainly from the rebound seen in the semiconductors segment as it grew 11.8% y/y, in part due to the lower base in May last year.

"Although this cluster is still down 4.8% y/y year-to-date, we believe that the combination of a better external demand for IT-related products and the generally lower base seen in the second half of 2012 will prop up the growth of the electronics manufacturing cluster coming up," UOB said.