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China's Manufacturing Activity Contracts For Second Month in August

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Factory activity in China contracted for the second straight month in August, with the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) coming in at 49.8, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Monday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a figure below signals a contraction.

The latest print beat the consensus forecast of 49.5 tracked by Investing.com, and compared with the 49.2 recorded in the previous month.

By enterprise size, the PMI for large-sized enterprises rose to 50.6, while the index for medium-sized enterprises edged down to 49.4 and that of small enterprises grew to 47.9.

Among the main sub-indices, the new orders index recovered, while the inventory index fell at a softer rate at 48.1 from 48.3. The employment index edged down to 48.7 from 49.0, while the supplier delivery time index rose for the first time in seven months.

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