CHINA's factory activity contracted for a fourth straight month in July, albeit at a slower pace, reflecting subdued global and domestic demand, reports Tokyo's Nikkei Asia.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) registered 49.3 this month, up from 49.0 in June, reported the National Bureau of Statistics. The 50-point mark separates a contraction in activity from an expansion.
This extends the sector's shrinkage since April after a brief uptick early in the year. The latest result is a tick above a Reuters poll, in which economists predicted July's figure would come in at 49.2.
China's annualised economic growth in the first quarter expanded by 6.3 per cent, thanks partly to a low base effect as the country shakes off the impact of the Covid crisis. But on a quarterly basis, growth increased by 0.8 per cent, below the 2.2 per cent expansion in the preceding quarter.