Caixin China manufacturing PMI flat in October

A worker welds at a construction site in Yiliang, Yunnan province, Feb 28, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

China's manufacturing activities continued to expand at a stable pace, according to the Caixin China Purchasing Managers' Index for manufacturing sectors, released on Wednesday.

The reading was 51 in October, unchanged from September. It has been above 50 for five consecutive months.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion while one below that indicates contraction.

It shows that China's manufacturing industries expanded at a stable pace in October, but the country's strict production reduction measures aimed at environmental protection and low corporate stock levels may affect production in the coming months, said Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist of Caixin Insight Group, which compiled the index.

China's industrial output growth may slow in October and investment growth may also be affected by the property market restrictive measures, Zhong said.

But he said the world's second-largest economy has been resilient and its GDP growth in the fourth quarter will not drop significantly compared with previous quarters.

China's GDP growth was 6.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter and 6.9 percent in the first three quarters. Analysts generally forecast that it will comfortably meet its growth target of around 6.5 percent for this year.

The official manufacturing PMI, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, fell to 51.6 in October after two months of expansion, according to an NBS statement on Tuesday. It was 52.4 in September, which marked a five-year high.

The Caixin index mainly monitors small- and middle-sized enterprises while the NBS mainly tracks major enterprises.