The increase seen in China's official non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index for August is showing a silver lining to the cloud that was cast over the country's economic prospects by an exceptionally low manufacturing index.

Yet, before we can confidently say the economy is bottoming out, we need to see economic data for the coming month.

The non-manufacturing PMI stood at 56.3 in August, up slightly from July's 55.6. The index tracks activity in the retail, aviation, software, real estate and construction industries.