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(Yicai Global) March 1 -- China's Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index for February beat expectations as it rose from January's three-year low, an indication that business conditions for the country's smaller companies are improving under government incentives.
The index was up 1.6 point at 49.9 for the month against a forecast 48.5, Caixin reported today. The PMI is a widely watched indicator derived from a survey of businesses in a specific industry regarding the operating environment. A reading above 50 signals expansion in the sector, while one below 50 represents contraction.
Caixin's higher PMI conflicts with the official data published by the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday, which pegged the manufacturing index at 49.2, 0.3 point less than January to market a third straight month of contract and the lowest level since March 2016.
China has two key PMIs. The official PMI is run by the state and comprises 3,000 companies, most of which are large and state-owned, whereas the Caixin index, often known as the Caixin-Markit Index, reaches out to 500 businesses that are typically smaller and privately owned.