China’s official manufacturing PMI eased to 50.0 in May right at the expansion-contraction threshold, while non-manufacturing rose to 50.1 and composite PMI to 50.5 — divergence among sectors with high-tech manufacturing leading at 52.9.
Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.68% to a fresh record of 8,788.38 as Samsung Electronics surged more than 10% to an all-time high after the company began shipping HBM4E memory-chip samples globally.
India’s manufacturing PMI rose to a three-month high of 55.0 with input-cost inflation among the strongest in four years. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.91% to 66,934.33 holding records; the RatingDog Caixin China May PMI eased to 51.8 from a five-year high of 52.2.
Today’s Asia Intelligence Brief covers the region’s finance, markets, economy, and politics — compiled across Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, and English sources.
China — PMI at the Threshold
