China's factory activity contracts for third month

China's manufacturing sector contracted for a third straight month in May, a private survey showed on Thursday. China's Shanghai Composite picked up pace to rise 0.65 percent, compared to 0.5 prior to the data release. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was unchanged. The Australian dollar trimmed gains by nearly 0.1 percent to $0.7877 against the U.S. dollar.