Chart of the Day: Check out how Singapore PMI impressively bucked the regional trend

PMI rose to 50.9 in February.

According to CIMB, the Singapore Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose 0.4 pt to 50.9 in Feb (+0.8 pt to 50.5 in Jan), marking the second straight month of expansionary activity in the manufacturing sector. 

The Feb PMI was better than our estimate (49.8) and the market’s forecast (50.3). The key electronics sector PMI fell 0.8 pt to 51.2 in Feb (+1.9 pts to 52.0 in Jan), although it marked the 13th straight month of expansion in the electronics segment.

Here's more from CIMB:

The sustained uptick in Feb’s overall PMI, as wellas the expansion in new orders and new export orders, is encouraging and it raises our hopes for exports and production to gain momentum in 2Q14 onwards.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose 0.4 pt to 50.9 in Feb (+0.8 pt to 50.5 in Jan), thanks to the higher prints in production, inventory, finished goods, employment and backlog orders.

Although the new orders and new export orders declined last month, the respective indices are still hovering above 50 in Feb, signalling expansionary activity.

The uptick in Singapore’s PMI bucked the regional PMI trends, which were generally weaker in Feb- China’s PMI dropped to 50.2 (from 50.5 in Jan), South Korea’s eased to 49.8 (50.9 in Jan), Taiwan’s dropped to 54.7 (55.5 in Jan) and Indonesia’s fell to 50.5 (51.0 in Jan).

The weakness was partly due to a seasonal drag. Meanwhile, other global indicators (OECD CLIs, global PMI) signal that global output should continue to rise at a solid pace.