China manufacturing growth at eight-month low: govt
HSBC is scheduled to release its final reading for November on Monday.
Beijing (AFP) - China s manufacturing growth skidded to an eight-month low in November, an official survey showed Monday, signalling further downward pressure on the world s second-largest economy.
China s official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics came in at 50.3 last month, lower than the 50.8 recorded in October and the weakest since a similar 50.3 reading in March.
The index, which tracks activity in factories and workshops, is considered a key indicator of the health of China s economy, a major driver of global growth. A figure above 50 signals expansion, while anything below indicates contraction.
The results came after a closely watched private survey fell to a six-month low and showed manufacturing stagnating.
British bank HSBC s preliminary PMI for November came in at the 50.0 breakeven point dividing expansion and contraction, the bank said last month. It was lower than October s 50.4 and the weakest reading since May s 49.4.
HSBC is scheduled to release its final reading for November on Monday.
China s central bank last month unexpectedly cut benchmark interest rates for the first time in more than two years, as authorities seek to prop up flagging growth.
The cut came after a string of disappointing data showed the Chinese economy is struggling with not just stalling factory growth, but other problems including soft exports and a weakening property market.
China s economy expanded 7.3 percent in the July-September quarter, down from 7.5 percent in the previous three months and the slowest since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
The People s Bank of China on November 21 lowered its one-year rate for deposits by 25 basis points to 2.75 percent and its one-year lending rate by 40 basis points to 5.6 percent, a statement said.
China s housing prices fell on a monthly basis for the seventh straight month in November, a survey showed Sunday, as the country s property market weighs on growth.
The average price of a new home in China s 100 major cities was 10,589 yuan ($1,720) per square metre in November, down 0.38 percent from October, the independent China Index Academy said in a statement.
The fall was a slight improvement from the 0.40 percent month-on-month drop in October, previous figures showed.
