Japan Private Sector Growth Accelerates In August

(RTTNews) - Japan's private sector growth accelerated in August as services activity posted a faster growth and the contraction in manufacturing activity slowed, flash survey results published by S&P Global showed on Thursday. The Jibun Bank flash composite output index rose to 53.0 in August from 52.5 in July. A score above 50.0 indicates expansion.

The flash services Purchasing Managers' Index registered 54.0 compared to 53.7 in the prior month.

At the same time, the manufacturing PMI climbed to 49.5 from 49.1 a month ago. But this was moderately below forecast of 49.8 and stayed below the threshold 50.0.

New business in services expanded at a solid pace for the second consecutive month and export business returned to growth. Meanwhile, new orders in manufacturing remained in the contraction zone.

At composite level, optimism levels remained above average suggesting that firms were confident that output will continue to increase in the months ahead. Nonetheless, business confidence eased to a 19-month low.

Manufacturing output increased moderately due to higher workforce capacity supported the clearance of backlogged orders. Service providers also hired additional staff to meet the ongoing workloads and clear outstanding work.

On the price front, the survey showed that manufacturers were hesitant to raise selling prices, which resulted in a slowdown in output price inflation. But average input costs increased the most since April 2023.

Service providers opted to raise selling prices at the softest pace in nine months, even as input cost inflation rose.