China's non-manufacturing sector continues to improve (2)

The sub-index for new export orders stayed above 50 percent for the second months, while the employment sub-index rose for the third straight month to reach 52.1 percent.

The sub-index for intermediate input prices gained 1.3 percentage points month on month to 53.8 percent due to bad weather and festivals such as Christmas.

Two sub-indices, including that for business activity expectations and in-hand orders, either stayed unchanged or dropped from the previous month.

In terms of industries, the service and infrastructure industries are expected to play a bigger role in shoring up growth, according to the CFLP.

As the PMI and new order sub-index continued to run at high levels, the service industry has become a main driver of the non-manufacturing sector.

The infrastructure industry PMI stayed above 60 percent for the third month, and its new order sub-index reached the year's new high, indicating a fast growth pace in infrastructure investment in months to come.

To buoy the economy, authorities have earlier in the year introduced a string of pro-growth measures, including approving massive construction projects and cutting interest rates.

The CFLP's non-manufacturing PMI is based on a survey of about 1,200 companies in 27 industries, including transportation, catering and software development.