China’s factory activity improved but remained in contraction in November. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 49.2, remaining below the 50 mark that separates growth and contraction for an eighth month. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 49.4.

The non-manufacturing measure of activity in construction and services reached 49.5, after inching up to 50.1 in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday.

The readings offer an early glimpse of how the world’s second-biggest economy fared in November, after months of global trade turbulence and an unprecedented decline in investment. So far this quarter, industrial production had its smallest gain since the start of the year, while exports unexpectedly contracted, as global demand failed to offset the slump in shipments to the US.