China’s seasonally adjusted headline Business Activity Index came in at 55.0 in February, jumping from 52.9 registered in January and marking a further improvement in the country’s service sector, S&P Global said in its report published on Friday. The figure surpassed expectations and experienced the strongest rise since August. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted Composite Output Index, which shows the combined results of the manufacturing and services sectors, went up from January’s 51.1 to 54.2. “The economy has entered a post-Covid recovery, with services activity showing signs of a stronger recovery than the manufacturing sector. But the impact of the pandemic remains far-reaching. Currently, the foundation for economic recovery has yet to solidify,” Caixin Insight Group Senior Economist Dr. Wang Zhe commented. NN: China’s big bet paid off. Watch as their economy zooms. And our binary oil bet pays off over the next 12 months.
Asia rises as China’s services sector rebounds
Major stock exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region traded higher in the afternoon session on Friday, with the positive trend seemingly boosted by a sharp recovery in the services sector across China and Japan. Investors also drew optimism from data that registered cooler-than-projected inflation figure in Tokyo. Governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Yi Gang, previously noted that the bank’s interest rates are at an optimum level, stressing that the central bank will work to maintain currency stability.