China Service Sector Growth Improves In August
(RTTNews) - China's service sector growth accelerated in August driven by the strong upturn in new orders, survey data from S&P Global showed on Wednesday.
The headline RatingDog services Purchasing Managers' Index rose unexpectedly to 53.0 in August from 52.6 in July. Economists expect the indicator to fall to 52.4. The rate of increase was the fastest seen since May 2024.
The index remained above the threshold 50.0 mark since January 2023 signaling expansion in the sector.
New orders grew for the second straight month and logged its steepest rise since May 2024, which was partly due to new export business.
The latest rise in new business contributed to another accumulation of outstanding business. As a result, new business backlogs of work rose for the fifth straight month.
There was a fresh drop in staffing levels due to the non-replacement of job leavers and redundancies. Headcounts dropped in two of the past three months.
Average input costs continued to increase on the back of higher wages and raw material costs. Nonetheless, the latest upturn was only fractional. Consequently, services firms absorbed higher costs and lowered their output charges to support sales.
Business confidence remained positive in August and hit the joint-highest in five months. Companies expect better market conditions and internal growth plans to stimulate activity growth in the year ahead.
The survey showed that the overall China's private sector expanded for the third consecutive month in August. The composite output index posted 51.9, up from 50.8 in July.
China Industrial Output Strengthens; Retail Sales Miss Forecast
China Inflation Rises To 0.8%, PPI Inflation Accelerates
China Exports Log Strong Growth On Tech Demand
China Service Sector Growth Improves
China Manufacturing Sector Improves In August - Caixin
China Manufacturing PMI 49.8 In August - NBS
China Exports Beat Expectations Despite Geopolitical Tensions
