The manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in September, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.6.
That's down from 53.0 in August, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
The survey also showed that the services PMI fell to 52.0 from 55.8 in the previous month.
Central to the latest easing of business activity growth was slower inflows of new work. While still solid, the rate of new business growth was the weakest in three months. This was due to both a slowdown in services new business expansion and a renewed fall in goods new orders.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that goods demand declined as market conditions deteriorated. The rate at which goods new orders contracted was the quickest in eight months, despite being marginal.
Meanwhile, new export orders fell marginally in September after rising briefly in August. Faster services export business growth failed to offset a renewed decline in the goods producing sector. According to panelists, US tariffs negatively affected new orders for Australian manufactured goods from abroad.