China's service sector expanded in April, recording 56.4 on Caixin's Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI), down 1.4 percentage points from the previous month.
The expansion in the service industry has persisted for the fourth consecutive month, still at a historically high level.
Optimism in the services sector remained high in April, despite the business expectations index falling slightly for the third consecutive month, it was still significantly above the expansion/contraction line. Suggesting that companies are generally confident, market conditions and customer demand will further improve as the impact of the pandemic continues to fade.
The Caixin China General Services PMI in April indicates that the service sector continued its strong growth in April, while the manufacturing sector suffered from sluggish growth, said Dr. Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insight Group. The sustainability of the recovery after a short-term release of pent-up demand remains in doubt, with a number of data pointing to the fact that the recovery is on shaky ground, he added.