China's Caixin Manufacturing PMI contracts to 49.9 in November, negative surprise

China's November Caixin manufacturing PMI came in at 49.9 vs. 50.5 expected and October’s 50.6, showing that the country’s manufacturing sector is back into contraction.

China's official manufacturing PMI on Tuesday expanded to 50.1 in November from 49.2 seen in October and against 49.6 expected, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported.

Comments from Dr. Wang Zhe, Senior Economist at Caixin Insight Group

“The index plunged into contractionary territory for the second time since April 2020.”

“Supply in the manufacturing sector recovered, while demand weakened. Relaxing constraints on the supply side, especially the easing of the power crunch, quickened the pace of production recovery. “

“In November, the measure for output returned to positive territory after remaining in negative territory for three consecutive months. But demand was relatively weak, suppressed by the Covid-19 epidemic and rising product prices. The pandemic hurt external demand, with the gauge for new export orders staying in negative territory for the fourth straight month in November.”

Market reaction

AUD/USD stalls its Aussie Q3 GDP-led upside intact below 0.7150 on the downbeat Chinese Caixin PMI data, trading close to 7140, as of writing. The spot is on a steady recovery mode after reaching fresh yearly lows of 0.7063 on hawkish Fed Chair Jerome Powell.