China's August manufacturing activity falls for fourth month

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's manufacturing activity in August shrank for a fourth straight month, an official factory survey showed on Saturday, raising expectations the government will direct more stimulus to households and less to infrastructure projects. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell to 49.1 in August from 49.

4 in July, below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction and missing a median forecast of 49.5 in a Reuters poll. (Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Himani Sarkar).