China’s manufacturing activity improved slightly last month from the previous month, the Chinese government said yesterday, but analysts said the world’s second-biggest economy remained weak.
The official Chinese purchasing managers index (PMI) was 50.3 last month, up from an eight-month low of 50.2 in February, helped by an improvement in export orders, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said,A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
“Though manufacturing activity remains subdued, it has held up better than many had feared,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said.
WEAKNESS
“Today’s reading still points to weakness in the sector,” he added.
The market had expected the PMI to remain unchanged last month at 50.2, according to a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires.
Meanwhile, British bank HSBC said yesterday that its measure of China’s PMI — which gives greater weight to smaller companies — was 48 last month, the lowest since July last year. The figure was revised down slightly from a preliminary estimate of 48.1.
“The Chinese manufacturing sector continues to lose further steam,” HSBC China economist Sun Junwei (孫君瑋) said. “Despite improving new export orders, domestic weakness implies 1Q GDP [first-quarter GDP] growth is likely to have slipped below the annual growth target of 7.5 percent.”
China is due to release first-quarter GDP figures on April 16.
Separately, price rises for new homes in China slowed last month for the third straight month, an independent survey showed yesterday, as Chinese authorities say they are looking to curb high housing costs.
The average price of a new home in 100 major cities rose 10.04 percent year-on-year last month to 11,002 yuan (US$1,775) per square meter, according to the China Index Academy, which compiled the survey, released late on Monday. The increase compared with a rise of 10.79 percent in February, according to the academy.
STEADYING REAL ESTATE
The number of cities where new home prices grew by more than 1 percent decreased, the academy said in its release, which “indicates real-estate prices in most cities are steadying further.”
Last month’s prices rose 0.38 percent from the previous month, the data showed, slowing from February’s increase of 0.54 percent, but still marking the 22nd straight month-on-month gain.
Beijing led the rise in new-home prices among the 10 biggest Chinese cities last month, with the average cost increasing 27.13 percent year-on-year to 33,069 yuan per square meter, the data showed.
Prices in Guangzhou increased 20.48 percent year-on-year and those in nearby Shenzhen gained 19.02 percent.
In Shanghai, China’s commercial capital, the average cost of a new home came to 32,339 yuan per square meter, up 14.89 percent from the same month a year ago.
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