Chinese manufacturing activity rebounded in February but downward pressure on the economy remains, an HSBC report showed Monday.

The HSBC's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China in February stood at 50.7, beating the market forecast of 50.1 and higher than the preliminary figure of 50.1 that HSBC released on Wednesday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while anything below that represents contraction.

"The uptick of PMI for February is attributable to the gradually stabilizing domestic demand," said HSBC chief China economist Qu Hongbin.

"However, it's still early to say China's economy has bottomed out. We expect more policy easing in the future," he added.

The new export orders index for the month slipped to 48.5, dropping below the 50-point threshold for the first time in 10 months and signalling weakening external demand, the HSBC report showed.

On Sunday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) released their PMI figures for February, registering at 49.9, up from 49.8 the previous month.

The official PMI calculation covers large enterprises as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while the HSBC poll is more biased toward SMEs.

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