China’s factory activity expands

China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than a year in August, with a jump in new orders, official data showed yesterday, raising hopes that a rapid economic slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy may have been arrested.

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) figure, published by the National Bureau of Statistics, rose to 51.0 in August from 50.3 in July, the highest level since last April and ahead of market expectations of 50.6 in a Reuters poll.

A reading above 50 indicates expanding activity, while a reading below 50 points to a contraction. Beijing has stepped up efforts to prevent a sharp economic slowdown by quickening railway investment and public housing construction and introducing a series of measures to help smaller companies, which could sustain the revival of internal demand in the coming months.