PMI edges up to 50.3 in November

It increased by 0.1 points from October.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) marked its second consecutive expansionary reading in November, improving by 0.1 points to 50.3.

Electronics PMI also improved in November, rising by 0.2 points to 50.1, marking its first expansion after 15 consecutive months of contraction since July 2022.

According to UOB, the improvement in the latest overall PMI was "again broad-based with new exports (50.6 from 50.2), production (50.5 from 50.3), order backlog (50.7 from 50.5) and employment (50.4 from 50.2) recording higher pace of expansion.

In November, new orders (50.3 from 49.9) and input purchases/inventory (50.0 from 49.8) recorded first-time increases, whilst the imports index (50.1 from 49.7) recorded the first above-50 print after 15 straight months of declines. 

"These improvements more than offset the contraction in the index for supplier deliveries, which improved to 49.7 from 49.4," UOB said.