A business survey shows China's manufacturing contracted again in September but suggests the slowdown might be stabilising.
HSBC said a preliminary version of its purchasing managers' index stood at 47.8 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 indicate a contraction - up slightly from August's 47.6.
The survey is based on a survey of some 420 companies.
"China's manufacturing growth is still slowing, but the pace of slowdown is stabilising," HSBC economist Hongbin Qu said.
Analysts expect a rebound in China's economic growth late this year or in early 2013 following two interest rate cuts and higher government spending aimed at reversing the country's deepest slump since the 2008 global crisis.
