Official Data: China’s factory activities picked up in August but remained contracted.
A sub-index measuring new orders jumped to the expansionary territory for the first time in five months to 50.2 in August, while new export orders sub-index increased merely 0.3 percentage point
The latest data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed manufacturing activities in the country, though they remained in the contractionary territory in August, improved slightly from the month before, which coupled with an uptick in the new order index sparked hope that the worst might have been over for the sector.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 49.7 from 49.3 in July.
A sub-index measuring new orders jumped to the expansionary territory for the first time in five months to 50.2 in August. New export orders sub-index increased merely 0.3 percentage points to 46.7 in August, indicating an improvement in domestic demand while overseas businesses remained sluggish.
On the other hand, the service sector continued to weaken, falling to 51.0 points in August compared to 51.5 in July and 53.2 in June.