China Official Nonmanufacturing PMI 54.0 in April Vs. 55.1 in March

China's official nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index, a measure of activity outside factory gates, fell to 54.0 in April from 55.1 in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday.

A reading above 50 indicates an expansion, while a figure below that level indicates a contraction.

The subindex for services dropped to 52.6 from 54.2 in March, but the subindex for construction increased to 61.6 from 60.5, the statistics bureau said.

The new orders subindex for the entire nonmanufacturing sector fell to 50.5 from 51.9.

The official manufacturing PMI, also released Sunday, fell to a six-month low of 51.2 in April from 51.8 in March.

The nonmanufacturing PMI covers services including retail, aviation and software as well as the real-estate and construction sectors.

The data are based on replies to monthly questionnaires sent to purchasing executives at 4,000 companies in 27 nonmanufacturing sectors.

The China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing issues the data together with the National Bureau of Statistics.

--Liyan Qi

Write to Liyan Qi at liyan.qi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2017 21:38 ET (01:38 GMT)