China services growth at 5-month low in February
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BEIJING (REUTERS) - Growth in China's increasingly important services sector expanded at its slowest pace in five months in February, reinforcing the view that the recovery in the world's second-largest economy remains modest.
China's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 54.5, according to a statement from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), down from January's 56.2 and the slowest pace of expansion since September 2012 - the low point of China's recent economic downturn.
"This showed that market demand in the non-manufacturing sector maintained steady growth trend, but the pace slowed," the NBS said in a statement.
The PMI new orders sub-index fell to 51.9 in February from 53.8 in the previous month. The sub-index for construction in Feb fell to 58 from 61.6 in January.
