China’s
official PMI fell to an eight-month low in February.
Reuters
and others report that the PMI – which focuses on larger, state-run factories –
fell from January’s 50.5 to 50.2 in the month affected by Chinese Lunar New
Year celebrations.
Any
result above 50 indicates expansion in the survey-based, seasonally-adjusted
index.
“Judging from market demand and production
in some industries, we expect economic growth to remain steady in the future,”
Reuters reports Zhang Liqun, an economist at the Development Research Centre,
as saying.
The
result is better than that of the HSBC/Markit flash PMI of 48.3, and
slightly better than the market’s expectation of a result of 50.1.
“This shows a
further slowdown in the economy, but it’s a modest slowdown,” explained
Shuang Ding, a Citigroup economist, in comments reported by the Wall Street
Journal.
“It hasn’t reached
the point where it would trigger a policy response from the government.”
Image: News Corp