BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s factory activity in August expanded at the quickest pace in five months on the back of rising new orders, a private-sector survey showed on Monday.

The RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 50.5 in August from 49.5 in July, beating analysts’ expectations of 49.7 in a Reuters poll. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction.

The result was better than that of an official survey released on Sunday that showed factory activity shrinking for the fifth straight month.

“Notably, the manufacturing sector is helping the recovery, but this rebound is patchy,” said Yao Yu, founder of RatingDog.

“With weak domestic demand, potentially overstretched external orders, and slow profit recovery, the durability of the improvement depend

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