China’s factory activity contracted for a fourth consecutive month in January, underscoring the much-needed litany of policy support for the world’s second-largest economy which Beijing announced last week.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers index reached 49.2 this month, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on Wednesday — above December’s reading but still below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
The official non-manufacturing managers’ index rose to 50.7 in January from 50.4 in December and marginally better than projections from economists.