The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of China's manufacturing sector stood at 53.2 percent in June, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said Wednesday.

The figure was up 0.1 percentage points from May, when the index fell 0.4 percentage points from the previous month.

A reading of above 50 suggests expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction.

The PMI includes a package of indices that measure economic performance. The survey, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, covers purchasing and supply managers at more than 700 firms across China.

The output index was 57.1 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from a month ago. The new order index fell to 55.5 percent from 56.2 percent in May and 56.6 percent in April.

The purchasing price index climbed 4.7 percentage points to 57.8 percent, the seventh monthly increase since December.

"That the PMI index has remained above 50 indicates the country's economy is continuing to improve," said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council.

China's gross domestic product growth was 9 percent in the third quarter last year, then slumped to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter and to 6.1 percent in the first quarter in 2009.

Premier Wen Jiabao said on June 17 that China's economy was at a critical moment as it had begun to recover "steadily".

A week later, the National Bureau of Statistics said the slowdown in the world's third largest economy had bottomed out and it was expected to grow about 8 percent in the second quarter.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2009)