SHANGHAI -- China's factory activity shrank for the fifth straight month in February, amid seasonal factors and persistently poor business sentiment.
The country's benchmark purchasing managers' index recorded 49.1 for the second month of 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday, days before the National People's Congress convenes for its annual legislative meeting in Beijing. The reading is a tick lower than January's 49.2 and matches the median forecast in a Reuters poll.
