China's HSBC PMI falls for third month in a row

HONG KONG (MarketWatch)
A closely watched monthly gauge of China's manufacturing activities fell to a final reading of 48.0 in March from 48.5 in February, marking the third consecutive monthly decline and the worst reading since July of last year, HSBC said  in a report
HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was in contrast to an official version of the PMI released by China's statistics authority earlier in the day, which saw a small improvement in March to 50.3 from 50.2 the previous month
A reading above 50 signals an expansion in manufacturing activity, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction
The HSBC report said the deterioration in factory activity reflected quicker decreases for both output and total-new-orders subindexes, mainly due to softer domestic demand in China
Meanwhile, staffing levels in March declined for the fifth month running, although the rate of job losses eased
The final reading in March confirmed "the weakness of domestic-demand conditions," said HSBC chief China economist Hongbin Qu, estimating that China's GDP growth in the first quarter may have fallen below the annual growth target of 7.5%
He expected the Chinese government to fine-tune policy "sooner rather than later" to stablilize growth