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South Korea’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged down to 2.5% in September 2025 from 2.6% in August, returning to July’s level. The country added 312,000 jobs, marking the strongest employment gain in 19 months and bringing the total number of employed people to 29.15 million. Still, hiring in manufacturing and construction continued to decline, reflecting ongoing weakness in core sectors. The latest figures extended a steady recovery in employment following a brief setback last December, when 52,000 jobs were lost. Job creation gathered pace afterward, reaching a peak of 245,000 in May before easing to 183,000 in June, 171,000 in July, and 166,000 in August.

South Korea Jobless Rate Edges Lower in Sept

The International Monetary Fund revised Asia’s economic growth forecast upward on Thursday to 4.5% in 2025, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from its estimate in April, though slowing from 4.6% last year. It projects growth to slow to 4.1% in 2026. However, the agency warned that renewed escalation in US-China tensions could deal a heavy blow to a region deeply integrated into global supply chains. Economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region was holding up better than expected in April, despite the area bearing the brunt of US tariffs, said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, at a news conference, as reported by Reuters. But he cautioned that significant downside risks remain, noting that the "dust on tariffs has not settled yet" and tariffs could still increase.

IMF Revises Asia’s 2025 GDP Growth Higher to 4.5%

The NZX 50 dropped 79 points, or 0.6%, to 13,311 in morning trade on Friday, halting gains from the previous two sessions. The decline tracked a fall on Wall Street overnight amid concerns over persistent US-China trade tensions and the ongoing US government shutdown. For the week, the index is heading for a 1.2% decline, marking the second consecutive weekly loss. Traders also anticipated the release of Q3 domestic inflation data next week, which could guide the central bank’s monetary policy decision in the upcoming meeting. Caution was also built ahead of the release of a slew of economic indicators from New Zealand’s top trading partner, China, which are set to be released next Monday. These include GDP, industrial production, and retail sales. Almost all sectors traded in the red, led by technology, consumer staples, financials, and industrials. Among the biggest laggards were Fisher & Paykel (-1.3%), Ebos Group (-0.9%), Westpac Banking Corp. (-0.8%), and ANZ Group (-0.7%).

New Zealand Stocks Head for 2nd Straight Weekly Loss

South Korea’s import prices rose 0.6% year-on-year in September 2025, following a 2.2% decline in August and ending a five-month streak of falling import costs. Prices for intermediate goods increased 0.9%, reversing a 1.9% drop in August, while consumer goods prices jumped 4.6% from 2.8%, and capital goods rose 3.3%, up from 2.6%. In contrast, raw material prices continued to decline, falling 2.8%, though the drop was smaller than August’s 6.6% decrease. On a monthly basis, import prices edged up 0.2%, slightly below the 0.3% gain recorded in the previous month.

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