(Yicai Global) Nov. 1 -- China's Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index climbed 0.1 point last month, a sign that smaller businesses are enjoying success after the official PMI dipped 0.6 point.

The figure came in at 50.1 after seasonal adjustments, researcher IHS Market said online today, adding that the number suggests manufacturing has had a stable start to the fourth quarter, even though gr

China has two key purchasing managers' indices. The official PMI is run by the government and comprises 3,000 companies, most of which are state owned. The Caixin index, often known as the Caixin-Markit index, reaches out to 500 businesses which are generally smaller and privately owned. The official PMI for October was down at 50.2, data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics shows.

"China's economy has not seen any obvious improvement," Zhong Zhengsheng, research director at Caixin Insights, said in an accompanying note. "Overall, expansion across the manufacturing sector was still weak. Production and business confidence continued to cool despite stable demand and the pressure on production costs didn't ease."

Total purchase orders grew slightly last month, breaking the stagnant figure in September -- the first month without expansion in a year and a quarter -- but the weak market has curbed customer demand, others said. Others specifically mentioned a decline in demand from overseas, with export trade volumes sliding for seven straight months but falling slower in October than the previous month.

Industrial employment has been contracting for five years, but the reduction last month was the lowest since May, the data showed. The decline was mostly down to firms looking to streamline operations and workers retiring.

Factories have been mostly optimistic about a rise in production over the coming year, but that positivity waned to the lowest level in the last 11 months due to growing concerns about the trade tiff between China and the United States, the report added.

Editor: James Boynton