Purchasing managers’ indices in China’s manufacturing sector have risen in October. The official figure edged up from 49.8 to 50.2 points, crossing critical 50 point line that separates between growth and contraction.Â
The unofficial Markit / HSBC figure rose from 47.9 to 49.5. The preliminary release showed 49.1 points, so this is also an upwards revision of early data. AUD/USD remains stable in range.
In recent months, there was a heated debate about weather China’s slowdown is a “soft landing†or a hard one. With GDP growth sliding to 7.4% and these figures, it seems that at least for now, it is a soft landing.
A hard landing would mean a bigger crash and is supported by ghost buildings, unused infrastructure and pictures of empty parking lots and rotting copper.
Data coming out from China is not considered the most reliable data, and the unofficial PMIs are often lower than official ones. Nevertheless, we see here that both figures are moving in the same positive direction. So even if worries will persist, it does not look that bad, for now.
AUD/USD is trading at 1.0360, stable above 1.0350. In general, the pair is trading within the wide range of 1.02 to 1.06. For more detailed lines and events, see the Aussie dollar forecast.
