China drags on otherwise buoyant Asia factory sector

Asian manufacturing outside China showed signs of solid expansion in January as order books swelled, but factories in the region's giant struggled for growth, heightening concerns about an economic slowdown. China's service-sector growth also slowed down - to a five-year low - in another sign of the stuttering economic momentum that has been a factor behind the emerging markets sell-off of the past two weeks. But China PMIs, released since late last week, painted a more subdued picture. The Markit/HSBC manufacturing PMI for China fell to a six-month low of 49.5 in January, suggesting the overall factory sector contracted from December.

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