China official services PMI falls to 54.6 from 56

By MarketWatch
BEIJING
China's official nonmanufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 54.6 in December from 56.0 in November, according to a statement  from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing                                        
A reading above 50 indicates on-month expansion from the previous month and below indicates contraction
The nonmanufacturing PMI covers services including retail, aviation and software as well as the real-estate and construction sectors                                        
The subindex for services declined to 52.5 in December from 54.1 in November and construction fell to 62.6 from 63.5, the federation said                                        
"The retail and information-services sectors continued to show strength suggesting that there's still robust demand potential," federation analyst Cai Jin said                                        
Total new orders remained unchanged at 51.0 but new export orders fell to 49.4 from 49.9                                        
Overall business expectations slipped to 58.7 from 61.3                                        
The data are based on replies to monthly questionnaires sent to purchasing executives at 1,200 companies in 27 nonmanufacturing sectors
The federation issues the data in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics                                        
Manufacturing PMI fell in December to 51.0 from 51.4 the month before--slightly below expectations