China’s manufacturing industry growth in May rose to 50.8, the highest for this year, which Chinese officials say is the sign of a stabilising economy, which slowed down to 7.7 per cent last year.

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased to 50.8 in May, up from 50.4 in April, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).

The reading, which inched further above the 50-point level separating a monthly expansion in factories’ activity from a contraction, indicated a pickup in China’s manufacturing sector and the economy as a whole, state run Xinhua news agency reported.

This is the third consecutive monthly uptick of the widely watched data. The index, seen as one of the key indicators of how the economy performs, began to climb in March after three months of declines.

Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the central cabinet, pointed to the further improving data as an indication that “the economy continued to stabilise and this trend is becoming obvious.”

Eight among the 12 sub-indices in the PMI registered growth, with the sub-index for production edging up 0.3 to 52.8 after dipping 0.2 in the previous month, according to the NBS and the CFLP.

The sub-index for new orders, seen by analysts as the most important one among all the sub-indices, “jumped” by 1.1 to 52.3 in May after gaining 0.6 in April.

The sub-index for export orders, which “slumped” 1.1 in April, reversed the declining trend and rose by 0.2 to 49.3.

The employment sub-index of the PMI dipped to 48.2 from April’s 48.3, pointing to contraction in the job market, the Xinhua report said.

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