[Employees work at a smartphone parts factory in Fuyang, East China's Anhui Province. Photo: CFP ]
China's services sector recorded its fastest expansion in three months in December, according to a private survey released Tuesday, adding to signs that the Chinese economy remains resilient despite lackluster manufacturing activity.
The HSBC China Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which focuses on smaller private firms, rose to 53.4 in December from the previous month's 53.0, well above the level of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
A sub-index measuring employment was especially buoyant, hitting an 18-month high in December, the HSBC survey found.
An official survey of services activity, focused on large State-owned enterprises, was released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday, with the services PMI ticking up to 54.1 in December from the previous month's 53.9.
The strength of the services sector was in stark contrast with the struggling manufacturing sector, which grew at a slower pace during December, according to both the official and the HSBC PMI surveys.
The services sector is relatively environmentally friendly, and is expected to continue outshining the manufacturing sector, which is subject to increasing restraints on energy use and emission reduction targets, Zhuang Jian, a senior economist at the Asian Development Bank in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The robust services activity also offers a source of optimism amid China's slowing growth, as the economy shifts away from export and investment-led growth.
"The services sector continued to hold up well amid the manufacturing downturn, providing some counterweight to the downward pressures on the economy," Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC in Hong Kong, said in a note e-mailed to the Global Times on Tuesday.
China's economy is expected to fall short of the official annual growth target of around 7.5 percent that was set for 2014, and economists estimate the economy will grow at an even slower pace in 2015.