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Growth in China's factories held at an 18-month high in November as the official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) hovered at 51.4, confounding expectations that the Chinese economy faces a modest slowdown at the end of 2013.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the official PMI, published by the National Bureau of Statistics, to ease to 51.1 from 51.4 hit in October.
Most analysts believe the world's second-largest economy decelerated in the fourth quarter, hampered by slacker credit growth, unsteady global demand for its exports, and as companies slowed their rebuilding of inventories.
The 50-point mark in the PMI is the threshold separating an expansion in activity from a contraction.
