Hong Kong: Private-sector business conditions improve in December
The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 51.3 in December, up from November’s 50.1. December’s result marked the best reading since April. As such, the index moved further above the 50.0 no-change threshold, signaling a faster improvement in private sector operating conditions compared to the previous month.
The reading was driven by the first expansion in new business since June, a rebound in output and an acceleration in employment. Less positively, new exports were broadly static in December, while there was a fifth monthly fall in new business from mainland China. Moreover, business sentiment dipped from November.
Jingyi Pan, economics associate director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, was downbeat on the near-term outlook:
“Forward-looking PMI indicators provided a more measured outlook for business activity, […] with the backlogs of work index falling at a faster rate, while business sentiment turned more pessimistic at the end of 2023. The good news is that cost pressures have eased to a level corresponding with the historical average. This may help with the lowering of selling price pressures in the coming months, altogether boding well for further new business growth.”