China’s manufacturing sector continued to expand into December, but at a slower pace than in the previous month. The Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI reading came in at 51.5 in December vs. 51.8 in November and 51.7 forecast.

The rate of expansion slowed down on account of a weaker uptick in total new business while new orders grew at the slowest pace in three months during December. Domestic demand saw an expansion, but at a weaker pace than observed in the past two months, while new export orders declined at a slower rate than before.

Following the release of this news, the Chinese yuan saw a slight spike against the US dollar but has since steadied itself. At the time of writing, USD/CNH is trading somewhat bullish at around 6.964.