BEIJING — The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 50.9 in June, slightly down from 51 in May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on June 30.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction. The PMI remained in expansion zone for the 16th consecutive month, NBS data showed.

The sub-index for production stood at 51.9, down 0.8 percentage points from a month earlier, indicating a slowdown in the expansion of production.

The sub-index for new orders was up by 0.2 percentage points to 51.5 in June, which shows that the market demand in the manufacturing sector continued to grow.

The new export order index stood at 48.1 this month, down by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, which indicates that overseas orders declined during the period, while the import index contracted by 1.2 percentage points to 49.7.

The data on June 30 also showed that the PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 53.5 in June, down from 55.2 in May.