The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 53.2 in September, up from 47.5 in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below it reflects contraction.
Business activities in the non-manufacturing sector have recovered swiftly, especially for the service sector, according to NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.
In September, the sub-index for business activities in the services sector stood at 52.4, up 7.2 percentage points from that in August. Of all the 21 sectors surveyed, 16 sectors reported expansion, up from seven a month ago.
Sectors such as transportation, accommodation and catering, which were hit by the resurgence of COVID-19 cases last month, recorded marked improvement in September. Their sub-indexes for business activities were in the expansionary zone, according to the NBS.
The sub-index tracking business activity expectations for the services sector stood at 58.9, 1.6 percentage points higher than last month, showing most service enterprises are optimistic about the market in the near term.
NBS data also showed that China's construction industry has maintained relatively fast expansion, with the sub-index for business activities standing at 57.5 last month.
Thursday's data also showed that the PMI for China's manufacturing sector came in at 49.6 in September, edging down from 50.1 in August.
