Japan service activity shrinks on softer sales, confidence slips further, PMI shows
TOKYO, Nov 6 (Reuters) -Japan's service activity contracted in October on weaker sales, with business confidence slipping to the lowest level since March 2022 on concerns over shortage of labour, a private survey showed on Wednesday.
The final au Jibun Bank Service purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped to 49.7 in October from 53.1 in September, according to an index publisher S&P Global Intelligence.
It was slightly above a flash reading of 49.3 but fell below the 50.0 threshold separating expansion from contraction for the first time since June.
"The strength of performance in the Japanese service sector came to an abrupt halt at the start of the fourth quarter," said Usamah Bhatti, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, adding that the downturn was driven by slower sales.
The services industry has been a bright spot for the world's fourth largest economy, anchoring growth and offsetting some of the drag from a struggling manufacturing sector.
Lingering concerns over labour shortage weighed down the business outlook for the next 12 months, with the index hitting the lowest level in 31 months. Businesses, though, said the drop was a blip and overall confidence remained strong, Bhatti said.
New business inflows in October grew at a slower pace while overseas demand sank into contraction territory for the first time since July, the survey showed. The service sector also saw outstanding business falling for the second time in three months on soft demand.
All of this softness bodes ill for the world's fourth largest economy as it struggles to lift-off due partly to frail consumer demand.
Japan's third quarter gross domestic product, due to be released on Nov. 15, is expected to have slowed sharply on sluggish consumption and capital spending.
Higher labour and raw material cost, as well as a weak yen, drove up the rate of inflation above the long-run average in October, according to the survey. Service companies kept passing increased costs from wages and raw materials to customers at a similar pace as in September.
The composite PMI, which combines the manufacturing and service activities, slumped to 49.6 in October from 52.0 in September, the joint-lowest since November last year.
Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama
Editing by Shri Navaratnam
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
