- November 23, 2011
The Asian market fell again on Wednesday. Without the Japanese Nikkei, closed for a holiday dedicated to Labor Day, it is the Chinese stock exchanges set the tone. The Hang Seng drops 1.85% to 17,913 points and the Shanghai Composite loose 0.42% to 2402 points to 6:50.
In their wake, the Korean Kospi unscrews from 2.35% to 1783 points, the S & P Australian 1.98% to 4051 points and the Sensex India 1.56% to 15,815 points.
Chinese Manufacturing PMI worried
The main cause of this new day in the red is the publication of a PMI index of manufacturing activity in China at its lowest for 32 months. A preliminary estimate of the bank HSBC, the index reached 48 in November, against 51 in October (and 50.1 expected by analysts).Or a figure below 50 means contraction.
According to economists at the bank, China, heavily dependent on exports, is beginning to feel the negative effects of economic slowdowns in Europe and the United States. In October, Chinese exports to the European Union fell to 28.74 billion dollars against 31.61 billion in September, while exports to the United States fell to 28.6 billion against $ 30.11 billion in September. To this end, HSBC is lowering the forecast industrial production to 11% or 12% year on year in the months to come (against 13.2% in October). GDP growth has already increased from 10.4% last year to 9.1% in the third quarter of 2011.
The bad news is grafted to the announcement yesterday of a U.S. growth revised down for the third quarter.