Economic Buzz: Australia manufacturing sector continues to expand in August

The manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in August, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.9.

That's up from 51.3 in July and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The survey also showed that the services PMI improved to 55.1 in August from 54.1 in July.

Also, the composite PMI climbed to 54.9 from 53.8 a month earlier.

Growth in composite business activity was driven by a solid rise in new orders. Improvements in underlying demand and expansions in customer bases led to the quickest increase in manufacturing new orders in almost three years. Meanwhile, services activity rose at a softer, albeit still solid, rate in August.

Supporting the rise in new work were renewed expansions in new export business across both the manufacturing and service sectors. Although marginal, the expansion in new export orders was the quickest in six months. Survey respondents indicating growth in exports reported receiving new work from the US, Europe and other Asia-Pacific countries.

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