Manufacturing expands for a 5th month

It largely traded narrowly afterwards and was moving around 6.42 in late trade, strengthening about 0.3 percent from Friday’s close.

THE QUOTE: The yuan’s “inclusion is unlikely to have great impact on short-term demand” for the currency, said IG market strategist Bernard Aw in a report.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 49.6 in November, compared with the previous month’s reading of 49.8 and below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

China’s giant manufacturing sector worsened in November, but the service sector is showing strong resilience even as the economy slows.

Readings of output, new orders, inventories and employment all weakened from October, the manufacturing PMI report showed.

“The November reading is exactly in line with the 12-month average and represents the thirty-fifth straight score above the 50 threshold which divides growth from contraction”. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 9.70 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 2,080.41 and the Nasdaq composite lost 18.86 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 5,108.67.

A similar “two-speed” economic trend was seen in official factory and services surveys released earlier in the day, with factory activity unexpectedly falling to a three-month low while services activity picked up pace.

The offshore Chinese yuan was last at 6.4318 against the US dollar, 0.1% weaker than late Monday in Asia.

In contrast, the dollar is supported as the Federal Reserve is widely tipped to hike USA interest rates at its mid-December policy meeting. Brent crude, which is a benchmark for prices of Global oils, gained 21 cents to $44.80 a barrel. The euro rose to $1.0583 from $1.0569.