The HSBC/Markit services PMI showed that China’s services industry held steady in November, Reuters reported. The reading stood at 52.5 last month, little changed from October’s 52.6 and above the 50 line that separates expansion from contraction. “Service sectors maintained a steady pace of growth in November, translating into the third consecutive month of employment expansion,” said Hongbin Qu, chief economist for China at HSBC. The services industry accounted for 45% of China’s gross domestic output in 2012, and it overtook manufacturing as the country’s biggest employer in 2011.