Services see another strong month

China's services sector activity expanded for a second straight month in February amid a robust recovery of in-person services, suggesting that the economy is gaining growth momentum, a private survey showed on Friday.

The Caixin China General Services Purchasing Managers' Index, which focuses more on small and medium-sized enterprises and exporters, rose to 55 in February from 52.9 in January, media group Caixin said in a report. The reading was well above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction, marking a new high not seen since August.

"Services activity recovered at a faster pace as the most recent wave of COVID-19 infections subsided," said Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insight Group. "The optimized COVID-19 containment measures continued to drive up both supply and demand."