Hong Kong business conditions worsened last month: survey
HSBC indices show slight dip in activity for Hong Kong and mainland companies
Private companies on both sides of the border found it slightly more difficult to do business last month compared with February, the latest HSBC indices showed.
Both indices fell below 50, denoting business contraction; any reading above 50 would signal expansion. Locally, the HSBC Hong Kong purchasing managers' index fell from 50.7 in February to 49.6 last month.
The drop was unsurprising, considering the February figure was the highest in 12 months, a record that an analyst attributed to the start of lunar celebrations on February 19 this year compared with January 31 last year.
"The HSBC Hong Kong PMI fell back to 49.6 in March, suggesting that the one-year high in February was likely … affected by the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday," HSBC economist John Zhu wrote in an analysis.
The city's PMI gauges business conditions in the private sector including manufacturing, services, retail and construction.
Data is compiled from questionnaires filled in by executives in more than 300 firms operating locally. The PMI is a composite index based on a number of individual indices that last month dropped across the board.