China's July factory activity shrinks, services grow more slowly

Employees work on an engine assembly line at an engine manufacturing factory in Qingzhou, in China's eastern Shandong province on April 16, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

BEIJING: China's manufacturing activity in July shrank for a third month, an official factory survey showed on Wednesday, keeping alive expectations Beijing will need to launch more stimulus as a protracted property crisis and job insecurity drag on growth.

The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.4 in July from 49.5 in June, below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction but beating a median forecast of 49.3 in a Reuters poll.