China’s official manufacturing PMI figures for June fell 0.4 from 51.9 the previous month, compounding fears that a slowdown may be looming for the Chinese economy in the second half of the year.
The data, published by the National Bureau of Statistics, came in just shy of the 51.6 consensus given by a Reuters poll but is still well above the neutral 50 benchmark, which indicates that activity is still expanding in the sector.
The drop was broad-based, with the numbers for production, new orders, exports and imports all falling month-on-month.