China's Caixin services PMI for February came in at 50.2 vs. 53.0 expected and 51.4 last, showing that the country’s services activity expanded at the slowest rate for six months.
China’s business activity rises at a slower pace amid renewed drop in new orders.
Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insight Group said, “Over the past month, Covid-19 flare-ups in several regions had a relatively large impact on the services sector.”
“Demand for services contracted, while supply expanded at a limited pace. The spread of Covid-19 in several regions hurt the business operations of service companies. The business activity index managed to remain in expansionary territory in February, but fell to its lowest point in six months,” he added.
AUD/USD flirts with lows below 0.7300
The downside surprise on the Chinese Services PMI numbers weighs on the aussie dollar, as AUD/USD is pressurizes daily lows, currently trading at 0.7287, down 0.14% on the day.