Malaysia’s January industrial production grew at a moderate pace, in line with market expectations. It went up by 0.2% year-on-year in January, as polled by Business Times. The increase was due to the growth by the manufacturing index (1.2%) and electricity index (2.7%) while mining posted a decline of 2.7%. The Statistics Department in releasing the data said weakness in January could stem from fewer working days from an earlier Lunar New Year (versus Feb 2011). Considering January and February data in tandem will provide a better read on industrial production growth, it said. (Bloomberg)
The manufacturing sales rose 3.8% yoy to RM48.6bn in Jan (+1.1% to RM48.9bn in Dec 2011). On a mom basis, it decreased by 0.6% (+2.9% in Dec 2011). Total employees engaged in the manufacturing sector up 0.6% yoy to 1,02m in Jan (+0.6% to 1m in Dec 2011). Salaries & wages paid soared 4.1% yoy to RM2.5bn (+14.8% to RM2.6bn in Dec 2011). Average salaries & wages paid per employee rose 3.5% yoy to RM2,398 (+14.1% to RM2,592 in Dec 2011). Productivity increased by 3.2% to RM47,596 (+0.6% to RM48,714 in Dec 2011). (Department of Statistics)
Vietnam: Cuts benchmark rates to support growth amid slowdown
Vietnam cut its interest rates to support a slowing economy even as the nation faces Asia’s fastest inflation. The State Bank of Vietnam reduced the refinancing rate for the first time since 2009 to 14% from 15%, effective today, it said in a statement on its website yesterday. It also cut the discount rate to 12% from 13% and the dong deposit cap for terms of one-month and above to 13% from 14%. (Bloomberg)
India: Industrial output growth beats estimates
India’s industrial production unexpectedly rose at the fastest pace in seven months in January, weathering the highest interest rates since 2008 and weaker global growth. Output at factories, utilities and mines advanced 6.8% from a year earlier, after a revised 2.5% climb in December, the Central Statistical Office said in a statement in New Delhi yesterday. The figure exceeded all 26 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. A history of swings in the data may prevent the report from easing concern that the cost of credit and the impact of Europe’s debt crisis are dimming India’s economic outlook. (Bloomberg)
Indian car sales rose 13% yoy in Feb (7.2% in Jan), the steepest pace of growth since Apr 2011, to a record 211,402 units from 186,890 a year earlier. (WSJ)
China's national fiscal revenue rose 13.1% yoy to Rmb2.09tr (US$330.27bn) in the first two months, decelerating from 24.8% recorded last year, but higher than 10% recorded in the previous quarter. (Xinhua)
People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan deemed the trade deficit in the first two months of this year, as well as its impact on the exchange rate of the yuan in the foreign exchange market, "a good thing" for China as the yuan‘s level is increasingly dependent on the supply-and-demand relation in the market. (People Daily Online)
Japan’s Cabinet Office said the index of sentiment among households made up of two or more people fell 0.5 point from the previous month to 39.5 in Feb due to worries about salaries and the employment picture. (AFP)
Japan's core machinery orders rose 3.4% mom in Jan (-7.1% in Dec), the Cabinet Office said. Economists had expected a 2.0% gain. On a yoy basis, the measure came in at 5.7% (6.3% in Dec), exceeding the median forecast of 4.4%. (AFP)
Japan’s domestic corporate goods price index rose 0.6% yoy and 0.2% mom in Feb (0.5% yoy and -0.1% mom in Jan), matching the median forecasts. (Bloomberg)
EU: Ministers head toward final approval of second Greek rescue
Euro-area finance ministers will move toward completing the next Greek bailout this week as they meet in Brussels last night. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the group of euro-region finance ministers, said he had “no doubt” that a second bailout program for Greece would be approved and he expected a final decision on 12 March. (Bloomberg)
EU: Italy GDP data confirms 'technical' recession
Italy's gross domestic product declined by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, compared to the three months in the prior quarter, Italy's statistical office, ISTAT. Compared to the year-ago quarter, GDP fell 0.4%. The figure was in line with expectations and confirmed a preliminary estimate released in February. The data confirmed that Italy has now experienced two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP, the technical definition of an economy entering recession. (Bloomberg)
US: Federal Reserve to test 19 banks’ capital against US recession scenario
The Federal Reserve will show how the capital of 19 US banks might fare through a deep recession and a second housing crisis when they unveil stress-test results in three days. The tests will show results for revenues, capital ratios and profits or losses at each firm over a nine-quarter period, the Fed said in a paper released yesterday in Washington. The results will be released on 15 March. Templates included in the Fed release yesterday showed an array of categories it plans to disclose, from trading and counterparty losses to credit cards and first-lien mortgages. (Bloomberg)
US commercial lenders purchased US$78.2bn of Treasuries and securities of agencies in Jan and Feb, compared with US$62.6bn in all of 2011, bringing their holdings to US$1.78tr, Federal Reserve data show. Deposits exceeded loans by a record US$1.63tr in Feb, up from US$1.17tr in Jan 2011. (Bloomberg)
The US government’s budget deficit widened by 4.1% yoy to US$231.7bn in Feb (-US$22.5bn in Jan) as revenue fell. Economists had forecast the budget deficit would widen to US$229bn in Feb. (Bloomberg)
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