China’s manufacturing sector contracted for a third straight month in May, a private survey showed on Thursday. The HSBC flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 49.1, weaker than the 49.3 print forecast by Reuters but better than the 48.9 final showing in March. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.
China’s Shanghai Composite picked up pace to rise 0.65 percent, compared to 0.5 prior to the data release. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was unchanged. The Australian dollar trimmed gains by nearly 0.1 percent to $0.7877 against the U.S. dollar.
“I think we’re still quite far away from where we should be in a recovery. Last month was a really poor… a one year low. So you would expect that the number would improve a little bit,” said Julia Wang, Greater China Economist at HSBC.
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