chinas official gauges showed that factory and construction activities rebounded in september while the service sector slipped into contraction according to data released friday the official manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 501 in september recovering from 494 in august and beating the 498 median forecast made by economists polled by the wall street journal figures from the national bureau of statistics showed the reading climbed above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction after having been in contractionary territory for two months in a row however chinas official nonmanufacturing pmi which covers service and construction activity fell sharply to 506 in september from 526 in august dragged down by the slumping services sector the statistics bureau said