por admin » Lun May 23, 2011 8:16 pm
Esta noticia tambien provoco el sell off de los commodities hoy dia.
El PMI de China en su nivel mas bajo en 10 meses.
Preocupacion por una desaceleracion mundial.
El PMI de China cayo a 51.1 de 51.8 en Abril.
China PMI Hits 10-Month Low .
By AARON BACK
BEIJING—A business survey showing China's manufacturing expanding at its slowest pace in 10 months in May drove Chinese stocks down sharply, and added to concerns over a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy after months of fighting inflation fears.
.The HSBC preliminary Purchasing Managers' Index for China, an early read on manufacturing activity in May that was released Monday, fell to 51.1 in May from 51.8 in April. A reading above 50 indicates continued growth, but the decline in the index shows that the pace of growth is slowing.
Other recent data, including industrial production growth in April and manufacturer surveys from the last few months, have showed activity to be slowing more than many analysts predicted, even as inflation remains stubbornly high.
"The market certainly is worried about growth slowing, that's been apparent, but it's also worried about inflation. Previously the worry was inflation alone. That's what's changed," said UBS Securities economist Wang Tao. She noted that even inflation concerns are ultimately about growth, as the real worry has been that the government's anti-inflation tightening measures—a series of interest rate increases, credit curbs, and other measures—could lead to a sharp downturn in economic activity.
Kathleen Madigan looks at the reasons behind the global slowdown in manufacturing.
.The lower preliminary reading in HSBC's survey on Monday "heralds further cooldown" in China "as both domestic tightening and external supply disruptions kick in," Qu Hongbin, HSBC Chief Economist for China, said in a research note. Still, Mr. Qu said there is no need worry about a "hard landing" for the Chinese economy. "Cooling growth is not all bad news as it also helps to tame inflation."
China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 2.9% at 2774.57, while the Shenzhen Composite Index—for Shanghai's smaller sister market—fell 3.6% to 1149.39. Markets around the region were also trading lower, albeit less sharply, partly on continued euro crisis fears.
"The PMI is spooking investors today" in China, said Chen Jinren, an analyst at Huatai Securities, "especially since there are still real concerns about high inflation."
The latest inflation data, released earlier this month, showed that China's consumer price index rose 5.3% from a year earlier in April, down slightly from March's 5.4% rise but still well above the official full-year target of around 4%.
The preliminary China PMI figure is based on 85% to 90% of total responses to HSBC's PMI survey each month and is issued about one week before the final PMI reading for the month. The bank's final May China PMI reading is due on June 1, as is the official PMI released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
The official PMI for April, released on May 1, also showed a slowdown, falling to 52.9 from 53.4 in March.
Industrial production growth also slowed more rapidly than expected in April, according to data released earlier this month, rising 13.4% in April compared with 14.8% increase in March.
"In the next couple of months, we do expect some softness in the industrial production numbers, and continued decline in the PMIs," said Ms. Wang. Inventories of finished goods have been built up and are not meeting the expected level of final demand in some sectors such as autos, she added.
Auto sales, a closely watched indicator of consumption activity in China, have been disappointing this year. In April, auto sales fell 0.25% from a year earlier, the first such decline in two years. The semi-official China Association of Automobile Manufacturers now says its earlier forecast of 10%-15% auto sales growth this year is in doubt, an especially underwhelming performance compared with 32.4% growth in 2010.
Still, economists don't see any serious risk of a damaging slowdown in China. HSBC's Mr. Qu said that fighting inflation is likely to remain Beijing's focus in the coming months. Ms. Wang from UBS said she expects China's gross domestic product growth to come in at 9.3% this year, down from 10.3% in 2010, but still robust compared with most economies in the world.
In a survey of economists by Dow Jones last week, six out of 10 said they expect one more interest-rate increase this year, of a quarter of a percentage point to both lending and deposit rates. The People's Bank of China is also likely to raise banks' reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point next month, continuing its pattern of raising the ratio once a month so far this year, according to the survey.
To combat inflation, the central bank announced increases in its benchmark lending and deposit rates on April 5 and Feb. 8, following two similar moves in 2010, while also raising banks' required reserve ratio six times in 2010 and five times so far this year.
"It is likely that coming months will see a classic neurotic market mood swing towards China where investors stop worrying about inflation and start worrying about the opposite," said Chris Wood, an strategist at brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. "Still the authorities have complete freedom to turn the liquidity tap back on should they want to."
—Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai and Liu Li in Beijing contributed to this article.