Wed, May 24, 2023 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  EUROPE

  Manufacturing plunges

  The bloc’s manufacturing activity shrank this month at the fastest pace since the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered factories three years ago. An index based on surveys of purchasing managers across the region unexpectedly dropped to 44.6, further below the 50-point level that indicates contraction, S&P Global reported. A similar gauge of services also fell, although its reading of 55.9 still signals robust expansion. Meanwhile, the UK’s service sector companies reported the fastest increase in cost pressures in three months as S&P Global’s composite UK purchasing managers’ index for services eased slightly to 53.9 from 54.9 last month.

  SINGAPORE

  Inflation tops expectations

  Inflation — core and headline measures — came in faster than expected last month, as higher business costs continue to feed through to consumer prices. The core measure, which excludes private transport and accommodation, and a key gauge watched by the central bank, rose 5 percent from a year earlier, the Department of Statistics said in a statement yesterday. That was faster than the 4.7 percent estimate in a Bloomberg survey and compares with the 5 percent level in March. Headline inflation last month at 5.7 percent from a year earlier was also quicker than the 5.5 percent median estimate.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Tesla China expands exports

  Tesla Inc is listing China-made Model 3 and Model Y models for sale in Canada, the company’s Web site showed yesterday, confirming that the electric vehicle maker has completed its first shipments to North America from its Shanghai factory. The Web site said that both rear-wheel drive Model Y vehicles and the long-range, all-wheel drive version of the Model 3 are available for immediate delivery in British Columbia, with codes showing they were manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai. The models qualify for federal incentives of C$5,000 (US$3,694) in Canada, which, unlike the US, does not link electric-vehicle subsidies to the location of the plant that made the product.

  SEMICONDUCTORS

  China buys from Singapore

  Singapore is benefiting from the US-China discord in at least one respect: semiconductor sales. China imported US$407 million of chipmaking machinery from Singapore last month, Chinese customs data showed. It was the highest amount since August last year, up 9.6 percent from March and going against the wider trend of diminishing semiconductor exports to China. The country overall imported 27 percent less chipmaking gear last month than it did a year earlier. Singapore’s shipments to China of integrated circuit chips last month increased 3.5 percent from March.

  BANKING

  Mizuho to sell bonds

  Mizuho Financial Group Inc is set to become the third major Japanese bank to sell Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds after Credit Suisse Group AG’s near-collapse set off a global fire sale, in the latest sign of a resilient local credit market and improved investor mood. The lender is planning a yen-denominated two-part AT1 note, with pricing expected as early as July. The size of the issuance has yet to be determined. Mizuho’s AT1 announcement follows hot on the heels of news that the Japanese lender is boosting its presence in US investment banking via the purchase of boutique firm Greenhill & Co. Mizuho is planning to use the bond proceeds for working capital, a bank spokesman said.
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