AIRLINK 196.50 Increased By ▲ 4.66 (2.43%)
BOP 10.17 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (3.04%)
CNERGY 7.89 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (2.87%)
FCCL 38.41 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (1.45%)
FFL 16.06 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (1.9%)
FLYNG 25.48 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.67%)
HUBC 130.87 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (0.54%)
HUMNL 13.85 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (1.91%)
KEL 4.67 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 6.32 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.77%)
MLCF 45.34 Increased By ▲ 1.05 (2.37%)
OGDC 210.10 Increased By ▲ 3.23 (1.56%)
PACE 6.67 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.68%)
PAEL 41.23 Increased By ▲ 0.68 (1.68%)
PIAHCLA 17.79 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (1.14%)
PIBTL 8.15 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.99%)
POWER 9.35 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.19%)
PPL 181.20 Increased By ▲ 2.64 (1.48%)
PRL 40.00 Increased By ▲ 0.92 (2.35%)
PTC 24.60 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (1.91%)
SEARL 110.69 Increased By ▲ 2.84 (2.63%)
SILK 0.99 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (2.06%)
SSGC 38.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.56 (-1.43%)
SYM 19.30 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (0.94%)
TELE 8.81 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.44%)
TPLP 12.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.57%)
TRG 66.26 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.38%)
WAVESAPP 12.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-2.35%)
WTL 1.70 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
YOUW 3.99 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (1.01%)
BR100 12,096 Increased By 166.1 (1.39%)
BR30 36,068 Increased By 408.8 (1.15%)
KSE100 115,017 Increased By 1810.6 (1.6%)
KSE30 36,156 Increased By 591.2 (1.66%)

TOKYO: Japan’s factory output shrank at the fastest pace in eight months in January as declining overseas demand took a heavy toll on key industries such as auto and semiconductor equipment.

In contrast, retail sales posted their fastest growth in nearly two years, separate data showed, highlighting the divergent paths between soft manufacturing and robust service-sector activity.

“Weak export-bound production and a recovery in consumption continue to be the two main focuses of Japan’s economy,” said Atsushi Takeda, chief economist at Itochu Economic Research Institute. He expects the new Bank of Japan leadership will be slow to tweak monetary policy amid the uncertainty.

Factory output fell 4.6% in January from a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis, government data showed on Tuesday. The contraction was much larger than economists’ median forecast of a 2.6% decline and followed an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in December.

It marked the fastest decrease since May 2022’s 7.5% fall, when China’s COVID-19 lockdown disrupted Japanese manufacturers’ supply chains.

Output of auto products slumped 10.1%, dragging the overall index lower while manufacturing of items such as production machinery and electronic parts dropped 13.5% and 4.2%, respectively.

Semiconductor-making equipment was down 26.8% as chip firms slowed their capital expenditure, while passenger cars fell 7.4% due in part to component supply bottleneck caused by heavy snow across Japan, a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) official told reporters.

Comments

Comments are closed.