China factory activity contracts for 5th month

Beijing

ACTIVITY in China's manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth straight month in December, an official survey showed on Friday, reinforcing fears that the world's second-largest economy may be stuck in a protracted slowdown despite a flurry of stimulus measures.

While China's services sector ended 2015 on a strong note, the economy still looked set to grow at its slowest pace in a quarter of a century, suggesting the government will have to step up support in 2016 to revive activity.

The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 49.7 in December, in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters and up only fractionally from Nove…