A staff member works at a workshop of microwave oven factory in Foshan city, south China's Guangdong province, April 1, 2021. (LI JIALE/XINHUA)

BEIJING – The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 50.1 in September, up from 49.4 in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Friday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

The sub-index for production reached 51.5 in September, up 1.7 points from the previous month

"As policies and measures to stabilize the economy continue to take effect this month, and the negative effects of heat waves wane, the manufacturing PMI has bounced back to the expansion territory," the bureau's senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

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The sub-index for production reached 51.5 in September, up 1.7 points from the previous month. Demand continued to improve, as the sub-index for new orders rose 0.6 points from August to 49.8.

Non-manufacturing PMI down

Friday's data also showed the PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 50.6 in September, down from 52.6 in August. 

The construction sector maintained brisk expansion in September, with the sub-index for business activities in the sector reaching 60.2, 3.7 percentage points higher than the August level, according to the NBS.

The service sector was weaker this month as the pandemic and other factors weighed on market activities. The sub-index for business activities declined 3 percentage points from last month to 48.9.

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