Services continue expansion despite slowdown: Caixin

SHANGHAI, Feb 3 (SMM) – China's services sector maintained its growth in January, a Caixin survey showed on Sunday February 3. 

The Caixin services purchasing managers' index (PMI) slid by 0.3 from December, to 53.6 in January, well above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction. This also beat the expected 53.4. 

The Caixin comprehensive PMI for January, however, registered a greater loss of 1.3 from December to 50.9, dragged by a nearly three-year low of the Caixin manufacturing PMI. 

New orders in the services sector continued to climb in January, with the highest growth in seven months. Expanding overseas demand accounted for robust orders, as the new export business rose at the fastest  in 14 months. 

However, "overall, China's economic growth was weighed on by weakening domestic demand in January, although exports improved marginally as the Sino-US trade negotiations flagged signs of progress," said Zhong Zhengsheng, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group.