Japan fund flows, global manufacturing Wednesday's broadly positive economic data provided some relief in a week where emerging markets have been battered by worries about the advent of the US Federal Reserve's tapering of asset buying and accompanying capital outflows. The eurozone's mild recovery appeared intact, in China manufacturing sentiment improved, as did job numbers in Taiwan. Asia China: Manufacturing output in China improved for the first time in 11 months, according to an HSBC Purchasing Managers" Index that jumped to 50.1 from 47.7 in July, jumping above the 50-mark for expansion. China's manufacturing growth has started to stabilise on the back of modest improvements of new business and output. This is mainly driven by the initial filtering through of recent fine-tuning measures and companies" restocking activities, despite the continuous external weakness," said Hongbin Qu, chief economist, China and co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC. We expect further filtering-through, which is likely to deliver some upside surprises to China's growth in the coming months. Japan: Japanese investors turned net sellers of overseas bonds last week, after six consecutive weeks of net purchases. In the week of August 11-16, Japanese investors sold Y903.8bn ($9.2bn) of foreign bonds and notes. Gareth Barry of UBS said that the selling is likely related to the maturing of $85bn worth of US Treasurys. Japanese investors tend to sell as US Treasuries rise to buy back later when yields stabilise, and overall, investors seem to be moving out of Treasuries, but staying in cash dollars, he said. "The [dollar] bulls need not be overly concerned by the overnight news flow," he said. Rather, the widening spread between US Treasurys and JGB yields has created the conditions for further USDJPY upside. The Reuters Tankan survey of manufacturer sentiment improved 3 points to hit 16 in August, somewhat more upbeat than the July survey which showed the first deterioration in eight months. Non-manufacturing sentiment also improved, up 5 points on the month to 23. Individual industry data were described as "mixed," with chemicals, textiles and paper pulp, foods and steel showing double-digit improvement, while export related industries saw signs of weakness. Taiwan: The jobless rate remained steady at a seasonally-adjusted 4.2 per cent, though unadjusted it rose to 4.3 per cent from 4.2 per cent, which was likely due to new graduates entering the job market. Manufacturing provided 28,000 new jobs, while the services sector contributed 73,000 new jobs in July. Eurozone: Business growth in the euro area continues to slowly improve, with the August flash composite PMI increasing to 51.7 from 50.5 in July, the highest level since June 2011. A reading above 50 means expansion of output. Manufacturers led the way with output at 51.3 compared to 50.3 in July, while the services sector was not far behind at 51.0 compared to 49.8 in July, the highest levels for both since 2011. Demand for goods and services strengthened, with new orders up for the first time since July 2011. New orders and export sales for manufactured goods grew for the second month in a row. New orders increased by the sharpest rate since May 2011. New orders declined for services, but it was the smallest decline in two years. However, the data showed that employment continued to fall, and job loss rates accelerated for both manufacturing and services in August, but the overall rate has eased since earlier in the year. Output prices fell as companies tried to boost sales with discounts, but the drop was small as companies had to pass on higher input costs driven by oil and fuel prices to customers. Germany and France stood out as best and worst in class; France was the only country in the euro area to see a worsening in the index. Germany: The eurozone's largest economy led the optimistic PMI figures with a composite index at 53.4 from 52.1 in July, with manufacturing at 55.3 from 53.8, and services at 52.4 from 51.3 in July. New orders rose at the fastest rate in seven months, with the greatest increase in new business in the manufacturing sector, where exports also increased after a five month decline. Job creation remained strongest in the services sector, however. Costs were pushed up as inflation hit a seven-month high, with higher energy prices and staff wages in services, while manufacturing saw a decrease in cost burdens. France: All PMI indicators were below the 50 point mark. The composite PMI fell to 47.9 from 49.1 in July, hitting a two-month low, with services slipping to 47.7 from 48.6, and manufacturing output at 48.6 from 51.4 in July. Overall, new orders fell at a faster pace than in July, particularly in the services sector, while manufacturing reported a small increase in new orders for the first time in more than two years. New job creation continued to fall, though the shedding of jobs remained at a moderate pace in both services and manufacturing. Inflation of input prices accelerated to an eight-month high, mainly driven by costs in the services sector, while output prices continued to decline. "Although output fell at a sharper pace in August, the rate of decline remained much slower than seen earlier in the year," said Markit's senior economist Jack Kennedy. "There were encouraging signs from some of the more forward looking indicators, such as a slight rise in manufacturing new orders for the first time in over two years and service providers" confidence holding steady on July's 11-month high." Sweden: Unemployment fell unexpectedly to a seasonally-adjusted 7.8 per cent in July compared to 7.9 per cent in June, a surprise following predictions it would rise to 8.1 per cent. The number of employed people increased by 66,000, with an increase in temporarily employed of 50,000 to 896,000, while permanent employees amounted to 3,514,000 out of a total of 4,905,000 employed.