Asian factories shake off supply headaches but Omicron presents new risks

Asian factory activity grew in November as crippling supply bottlenecks eased, but rising input costs and renewed weakness in China dampened the region's prospects for an early, sustained recovery from pandemic paralysis.

The newly detected Omicron coronavirus variant has emerged as a fresh worry for the region's policymakers, who are already grappling with the challenge of steering their economies out of the doldrums while trying to tame inflation amid rising commodity costs and parts shortages.

China's factory activity fell back into contraction in November, the private Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed on Wednesday, as soft demand and elevated