Japan's Nikkei business daily is to sponsor the closely watched Asia purchasing managers' indices (PMI), financial research group Markit, which compiles the data, said yesterday. The sponsorship with Nikkei branding includes 10 PMI surveys in the Asia-Pacific such as Hong Kong Whole Economy PMI, India Manufacturing PMI and Japan Manufacturing PMI as well as two new PMI surveys for Malaysia Manufacturing and Singapore Whole Economy, Markit said.Compiled by Markit, the Asia PMI series are based on data collected monthly from 5,000 purchasing or other senior managers in the region. The PMI surveys provide advance indications of economic developments by tracking variables such as new orders, employment and prices based on first-hand interviews with panels of companies that closely represent economic sectors.