China's manufacturing gauge falls back into contraction in October

Services and construction also weakened as new export orders declined

China’s economic activity slowed sharply in October, with gauges of manufacturing, services and construction all pointing to a loss of momentum, according to data the National Bureau of Statistics released Saturday.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 49.3 in October, down from 50.1 in September, the statistics bureau said. The result undershot the 49.8 forecast made by economists in a Wall Street Journal survey and dropped into contraction territory again after a short rebound into expansion.

A reading above the 50 mark suggests activity is expanding, while a reading below that threshold indicates contraction.

Inside the factory survey, the production subindex fell to 49.8 in October from 51.7 in September.

New orders weakened as well. The subindex for total new orders dropped to 49.4, compared with September’s 50.5, while new export orders declined to 48.7 from 50.0.

The slowdown extended beyond the factory sector. China’s nonmanufacturing PMI, which covers both service and construction activity, declined to 49.7 in October from 50.2 in September, the bureau said.

The subindex tracking service activity fell to 50.0 in October, down from 50.2 in September, leaving services exactly at the mark that separates expansion from contraction. The construction subindex dropped to 48.0 from 50.3.

The October readings unwound September’s brief improvement, when the manufacturing index had climbed back above the expansion threshold, and left both headline indexes below the 50 line.