The services sector purchasing managers index produced by leading Chinese financial publication Caixin has breached a three month high for the month of August.
The Caixin services sector PMI for August is 52.7, for a 1.2 percentage point gain compared to the preceding month.
The Caixin reading marks a divergence from the official services PMI released by the Chinese government’s National Bureau of Statistics, which posted a month-on-month decline of 0.5 percentage points in August, falling to 52.6.
Given improvements in the performance of both the manufacturing and services sector, Caixin’s China Integrated PMI has lifted to a six month high of 52.4 in August from a reading of 51.9 in July.
Caixin’s manufacturing sector PMI for August was 51.6, for its third consecutive month of increase.
A number of services-sector enterprises surveyed by Caixin said that improving market conditions and the adoption of new sales tactics had led to a significant increase in new business in August, while manufacturing sector respondents said that their volumes of new orders had seen their strongest growth in three years.
While manufacturing employment continued to contract in August, services sector employment maintained its prior growth momentum to reach its strongest level in four months.
Combined manufacturing and services sector employment held steady in August, bringing an end to four consecutive months of steady decline.
Caixin chief economist Zhong Zhengsheng said that the improvements to both manufacturing and services sector sentiment helped to drive an ongoing gain in China’s economic outlook last month.
According to Zhong the market should now focus on whether short-term rises in investment costs will put pressure on corporate profits and economic inflation.
