Australia Manufacturing PMI Climbs To 51.6 - S&P Global

(RTTNews) - The manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in July, a preliminary survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.6.

That's up from 50.6 in June and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The survey also showed that the services PMI improved to 53.8 in July from 51.8 in June, and the composite PMI moved to 53.6 from 51,6 a month earlier.

The latest acceleration in business activity growth was supported by the first rise in manufacturing production in three months and the fastest expansion in services activity for 16 months.

The trend was similar for new orders, whereby a renewed increase in goods new orders was accompanied by greater services new business inflows. According to panelists, the expansion of customer bases and successful business development efforts supported the sharpest rise in overall new orders in 39 months.

Export orders remained in contraction, however. The overall reduction was limited to the manufacturing sector, as services companies saw new export business stabilize after four consecutive months of decline.