The Caixin General China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), an indicator of manufacturing activity, moved up to 48.6 in November, the highest level since June this year, a private survey showed Tuesday.
The reading was higher than 48.3 in October and 47.2 in September after months of decline, though it remained in contraction zone, according to the survey conducted by financial information service provider Markit and sponsored by Caixin Media Co. Ltd.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 represents contraction.
Chinese manufacturing firms signaled that output stabilized in November, thereby ending a sequence of reduction, the survey showed. Meanwhile, total new work continued to decline, and at a similarly modest rate to that seen in October, despite a pickup in new export business growth.
Overall, new business fell modestly, but new-export work rose at its fastest rate in over a year, according to the survey.
"This indicates that pressure on economic growth has eased and fiscal policy has had a strong effect [...] the economy is still on track to become more stable," said He Fan, chief economist at Caixin Insight Group.
Also on Tuesday, China's National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released the official manufacturing PMI, which came in at 49.6 in November, down from 49.8 in October.
The official PMI samples 3,000 relatively large enterprises in China.
The Caixin PMI samples 420 small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises; it is relatively volatile due to its small sample size and the dominance of small enterprises.
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