Chinese manufacturing starting to recover after stimulus blitz

PMI up in October and policymakers hope to hit economic growth target of about 5%

BEIJING - China's manufacturing activity expanded for the first time in six months and services picked up in October, indicating that Beijing's boldest stimulus measures since the Covid-19 pandemic are helping the battered economy turn a corner.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 50.1 in October from 49.8 in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Oct 31, just above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction and beating a median forecast of 49.9 in a Reuters poll.

In a further encouraging sign, the non-manufacturing PMI, which includes construction and services, rose to 50.2 in October, after it dropped to 50 in September.

Policymakers are banking on a last-ditch stimulus effort announced in late September to pull economic growth back towards 2024's roughly 5 per cent target and kick lending and investment back into gear, as a sharp property market downturn and frail consumer confidence continue to deter investors.