China's factory activity likely shrank for a seventh month in October, underscoring the need for further stimulus to bolster domestic demand, as producers' efforts to offload goods abroad merely exported the price wars weighing on them at home. A Reuters poll of 28 economists forecast the official purchasing managers' index (PMI) would slip to 49.6 from September's 49.8, remaining below the 50-point threshold that separates growth from contraction. The data is due on Friday.