Factory PMI stays soft, but services firm on new orders

A Chinese factory gauge remained sluggish last month, suggesting a tepid response from manufacturers to loosened monetary policy settings and efforts to shore up local government finances.

The official Purchasing Managers Index was 50.2 for June, missing the median estimate of 50.4 in a Bloomberg survey and unchanged from May. The services PMI, a measure of services and construction, fared better, climbing to 53.8 in June from 53.2 in May.

Numbers above 50 indicate expansion.