China Jul Official Manufacturing PMI 51.4 Vs 51.6 Market Expectation

??BEIJING--An official gauge of China's factory activity edged down in July, a sign that the world's second-largest economy may be starting to slow after a stronger-than-expected start to the year.

China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 51.4 in July from 51.7 in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Despite the decline, the index has now stayed above the 50 mark, which separates an expansion of activity from a contraction, for a year.

The July reading fell short of a median forecast of 51.6 from a Wall Street Journal poll of economists.

The subindex measuring new orders dropped to 52.8 from 53.1 in June, while the production subindex fell to 53.5 from 54.4, the statistics bureau said.

China's official nonmanufacturing PMI, also released Monday, fell to 54.5 in July from 54.9 in June. ?

-- Grace Zhu

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 30, 2017 21:29 ET (01:29 GMT)