Chart of the Day: Why Singapore must thank the services sector this time

Financial services sector rocketed 50.6%.

According to Nomura, Q1 GDP in ASEAN has been a mixed bag so far. 

Malaysia surprised lower, Thailand higher, while Indonesia was in line. Singapore added to that mix, with final Q1 GDP coming in at 0.2% y-o-y, well ahead of expectations (Consensus: -0.6%, Nomura: -0.7%) and advanced estimates (-0.6%).

Here's more from Nomura:

On a sequential basis, this means that the economy rose 1.8% q-o-q saar, slowing from 3.3% in Q4 but beating the flash estimate of -1.4%.

The services sector was the main source of the upward revision, driven by the financial services sector which surged 50.6% q-o-q saar.

Excluding financial services, growth in services was -1.63% q-o-q saar. This is more consistent with continued weakness in manufacturing, which contracted 12.3% q-o-q saar.