Earlier this week, China's official services PMI for March came in above expectations, indicating a faster-than-expected expansion. HSBC’s private survey was released today, showing a similar picture, though it came in slightly lower than February’s figure. The seasonally adjusted HSBC Services Purchasing Managers Index stood at 53.3 in March, down from February's 53.9.
It did, however, indicate business confidence hit an 11-month high, and signaled healthy growth with the new business sub-index extending an unbroken run of expansion to 40 months. Still, activity below the index’s long-term average implies that pro-growth policy support remains needed.
China’s official non-manufacturing PMI delivered a reading of 58 for March on Tuesday, with a revised methodology that saw February’s index revised up to 57.3 from 48.4 under the old calculation.