Singapore PMI dipped to 50.8 in March

But electronics PMI inched higher.

According to DBS, Mar14 PMIs did throw up a slight disappointment. Market was eyeing for an uptick in the headline number but the final outcome was a modest dip of 0.1 to 50.8.

Here's more:

Plainly, this is consistent with the recent trend in the PMIs of our key markets (i.e., US, EZ and China), which have all been fairly flat and with a slight downside bias.

Almost all the sub-indexes have moderated. And this is consistent with our view that manufacturing activities are more likely to move sideways than anywhere else in the coming months. Ultimately, global economic conditions are improving but very subtly.

However, the key surprise is that electronics PMI has inched a notch higher despite all the signs of further easing in the previous month. Upticks in the new orders and production indexes are suggesting fresh new orders.

While we believe overall production will remain in the expansion level going forward, the sustainability of such strong showing is in doubt against the backdrop of unfavourable trends in the global semiconductor sales and the SEMI book-to-bill ratio.