China’s factory activity stalled in November as output shrank of the first time in six months, a private survey showed on Thursday, The HSBC flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for November clocked in at the breakeven level of 50, which separates expansion from contraction, compared to a Reuters estimate for 50.3 and following the 50.4 final reading in October.
The Australian dollar eased against the greenback on the news, trading at $0.8607. But shares in China and Hong Kong appear unaffected by the data. The reading is the latest evidence that the world’s second biggest economy continues to lose traction. Recent data on housing prices and foreign direct investments also missed forecasts.
“China is slowing and we think it will continue to slow. A lot of it is structural, and in our view, growth will slow to about 4.5 percent over the next 10 years. We see some sectors that are very challenged; clearly real estate is one,” Robin Bew, MD of Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC.
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