China Service Sector Logs Faster Growth

(RTTNews) - China's service sector expanded at a faster pace in March with rising new business and improving confidence, survey results from S&P Global showed on Wednesday.

The Caixin service sector Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, rose to 52.7 in March from 52.5 in February.

The score signaled an increase in services activity for the fifteenth successive month. The rate of expansion was faster but it remained below the long-run series average.

The pace of increase in business activity accelerated mainly due to the improvement in new business and rising business sentiment. New business grew at the fastest pace since last December.

Export business advanced the most in nine months underpinned by better demand conditions and promotional activities.

As a result, service providers maintained a positive outlook with regards to activity in the next twelve months. Moreover, the improvement was the first in three months.

However, employment declined for a second straight month amid reduced capacity pressures. Resignations among staff and redundancies to improve productivity resulted in the fall in payroll numbers.

Price pressures softened across the service sector. Average input price inflation slowed below the series average. Consequently, they reduced the pace of output price growth.

The survey showed that overall private sector activity logged the strongest expansion since May 2023 as both manufacturing output and services activity grew at quicker rates.

The composite output index advanced to 52.7 in March from 52.5 a month ago.

"However, the economy still faces headwinds with prevalent uncertainties and unfavorable factors," Caixin Insight Group senior economist Wang Zhe said.

"Downward economic pressures persist, employment remains subdued, prices remain low, and insufficient effective demand has not been fundamentally resolved, underscoring the need to further boost domestic and external demand," the economist added.