Asia, European growth coming off the boil notes Oppenheimer Lloyds Global Markets CEO, Hiroyuka Maruyama

Speaking from the their corporate headquarters in Tokyo, Oppenheimer Lloyds Global Markets CEO, Hiroyuka Maruyama said, "Asian and European manufacturing output growth cooled further in June, with China hitting its slowest pace in more than a year, further evidence that the global economic recovery is moderating." End Quote

(1888PressRelease) July 02, 2010 - A separate report Thursday showed big Japanese manufacturers unexpectedly turning optimistic through mid-June, but analysts are fretting over the outlook, particularly given turmoil in markets since and a rise in the yen.

Oppenheimer Lloyds Global Markets CEO, Hiroyuka Maruyama continued, "Stock markets and commodity prices fell in Asia after a major survey of Chinese purchasing managers added to concerns over the global outlook." "They remained under pressure in Europe, down seven out of the past eight trading sessions."

Wall Street has just rounded off its worst quarter since the market meltdown in 2008 triggered by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.

But economists played down worries of a precipitous slowdown in China, which has been powering the world economy in its recovery from recession, and said the risk of a double-dip recession in industrialized Western economies remained low.

Oppenheimer Lloyds Global Markets CEO, Hiroyuka Maruyama added "Fears about hard-landing are overplayed," though he noted that government steps to cool the property market and curb bank lending appeared to be having an effect on manufacturing too.

HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a 14-month low of 50.4 -- just above the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction -- from 52.7 in May, with both output and new orders dropping outright for the first time since the depths of the global downturn in March 2009.

Oppenheimer Lloyds Global Markets CEO, Hiroyuka Maruyama predicted China would achieve around 9 percent growth in the second half, underpinned by massive investment and robust private consumption, after posting annual growth of 11.9 percent in the first quarter.

Elsewhere in Asia, manufacturing growth in India eased from a two-year peak last month, while the pace of growth for South Korean factories fell to a six-month low, similar surveys showed Thursday.

In the euro zone, manufacturing slowed in June to its weakest growth rate in four months, with frailty most notable in laggard Spain and offset by still-strong output growth from Europe's largest economy Germany.

News that the European Central Bank lent banks 111.2 billion euros in six-day funds Thursday as banks repaid close to half a trillion euros in emergency 12-month funds loaned out a year ago eased some of markets' fears over banks but underscored the ongoing need for emergency funds.

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