BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the services sector fell to 55.6 in July from 56.7 in June as growth in new orders eased, although a construction services sub-index strengthened, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

The services sector index follows two PMI surveys of China’s vast manufacturing industry that showed smaller, private firms beginning to stabilise while larger, state-owned enterprises faced continuing pressure from unsold inventories and slowing growth.

LONDON/BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Euro zone manufacturing
took another turn for the worse last month as output plummeted,
hammering home the scale of the region’s economic crisis which
also depressed export orders from factories in China and India.

Surveys of thousands of factories across the world released
on Wednesday showed activity in the 17-nation euro zone
contracted for the eleventh straight month in July as a downturn
that began in the periphery sank deeper roots into the core.

LONDON/BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Euro zone manufacturing
took another turn for the worse last month as output plummeted,
hammering home the scale of the region’s economic crisis which
also depressed export orders from factories in China and India.

Surveys of thousands of factories across the world released
on Wednesday showed activity in the 17-nation euro zone
contracted for the eleventh straight month in July as a downturn
that began in the periphery sinks deeper roots into the core.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Asia’s powerhouse manufacturing centers suffered weak export orders and declining output in July, surveys of purchasing managers showed on Wednesday, as misery wrought by the euro zone debt crisis poured pessimism over the region.

Global markets have been filled with doubt this week over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, meeting later on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, will or can do enough to lift the world economy.

BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Asia’s powerhouse manufacturing
centres suffered weak export orders and declining output in
July, surveys of purchasing managers showed on Wednesday, as
misery wrought by the euro zone debt crisis poured pessimism
over the region.

Global markets have been filled with doubt this week over
whether the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank,
meeting later on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, will or
can do enough to lift the world economy.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s official factory purchasing managers’ index fell to an eight-month low of 50.1 in July from 50.2 in June, suggesting the sector is barely growing, a survey by the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

The figures showed that factory output was expanding, but that new orders, including new export orders, were contracting in July more deeply than in June.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said the Chinese yuan was only “moderately undervalued” against a basket of currencies in an annual assessment released on Wednesday, suggesting a lessening of international pressure on Beijing over its foreign exchange and trade policies.

The IMF’s new stance on the yuan’s value – it had previously called it “substantially undervalued” against the dollar – comes as the currency approaches what many regard as fair value, and as the issue recedes as a point of diplomatic friction between the West and China.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s economy is set for a soft landing even as global headwinds increase, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Wednesday that urged further reform and currency appreciation to rebalance growth and reduce risks.

The report said economic reforms so far had substantially reduced external imbalances, but at the cost of significant domestic imbalances fueled by its investment-driven growth model.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund softened its stance on the Chinese yuan to “moderately undervalued” against a basket of currencies, and lowered its medium-term forecast for the current account surplus to between 4 percent and 4.5 percent of GDP, in an annual review released on Wednesday.

China has substantially reduced external imbalances but at the cost of significant domestic imbalances fuelled by its investment-driven growth model, the IMF said in the report.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese entrepreneur Feng Jun tried five times to set up overseas branches to market his MP3 players and other consumer electronics goods. Three of the branches made money, the other two failed, but he said they were all a “total headache.”

It was the headaches that inspired Feng’s latest venture, the Aigo Entrepreneurs Alliance (AEA), a club to help private Chinese companies navigate the uncertain world outside China.