China's manufacturing activity maintained its steady growth in November, a HSBC purchasing mangers' index (PMI) released on Monday showed.
The final reading of the HSBC November PMI stood at 50.8, down a touch from 50.9 in October but better than a flash estimate of 50.4. A number above 50 is consistent with expansion in manufacturing activity while a number below this level indicates a contraction.
The final HSBC PMI reading comes just a day after China said its official PMI stood at 51.4 in November, unchanged from the previous month and above market expectations. Factory growth held at an 18-month high.
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Recent economic news coming out of the world's second biggest economy has defied expectations for a modest slowdown in the final months of the year.
"Our clients are going into 2014 much more optimistic," Michael Klibaner, regional director and head of research, China at Jones Lang LaSalle, told CNBC after the release of the PMI data.
"The whole concern about the hard landing is off the table at this point, you don't hear those words at all, which is such a big change from three or four months ago. I'm quite optimistic about 2014, we're in a period of synchronized growth, from Japan to Europe to China," he said.
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The HSBC PMI survey showed that a sub-index of new orders hit an eight-month high of 51.7 in November from 51.5 in October, although new export orders dipped to a three-month low.
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