Mubasher: The US manufacturing sector slump accelerated further during September, as production at factories dropped, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Tuesday.

The ISM’s gauge of US factory activity dropped by 1.3% to 49.1% last September, compared with the reading of 47.8% in August. This marked the lowest reading since June 2009, when the index recorded 46.3%

The gauge of production fell by 2.2% to 47.3% in September from the preceding month, reflecting that bookings dropped, while new export orders sharply dropped by 2.3% to 41%.

While new orders posted a modest gain during the month, they remained in contractionary territory, with the respective sub-index at 47.3%.

Inventories recorded the fourth monthly plunge, declining by 3% to 46.9% in September, the lowest level observed since December 2016, “due primarily to the close attention being paid to input material receipts relative to new orders received,” chair of ISM business survey committee Timothy R Fiore said.

By 3:05 pm GMT, the US dollar index ticked up by 0.07% to 99.3080.