Chinese manufacturing showed further signs of weakness in August, adding to evidence of an inexorable slowdown in the world’s No. 2 economy despite recent government efforts to support growth. Two factory activity indexes released Tuesday were at multi-year lows. An official manufacturing index based on a survey of factory purchasing managers fell last month to 49.7, the lowest level since August 2012, from 50.0 in July. The index, compiled by the Chinese Federation for Logistics and Purchasing, is based on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 indicate expansion. A separate survey, the Caixin purchasing managers’ index, fell to a six-year low of 47.3 from 47.8 in July, although the number was slightly better than a preliminary reading released last month. Caixin’s survey focuses on smaller, private enterprises while the federation’s survey is weighted toward larger, state-owned companies in China’s manufacturing industry, […]