BEIJING - The purchasing managers' index for China's manufacturing sector came in at 50.4 in July, edging down from 50.9 in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

China's manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in July, but the PMI reading of most industries remained in the expansion zone, NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

The sub-index for production stood at 51.0 in July, down 0.9 percentage points from a month earlier, while that for new orders dipped 0.6 percentage points to 50.9, a sign of slowing production and market demand in the manufacturing sector.

The new export order and import sub-indexes decreased to 47.7 and 49.4, respectively.

Saturday's data also showed that the PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 53.3 in July, down from 53.5 in June.