Chinese Manufacturing Expands But Employment Falls For Eighth Straight Month

This was lower than the flash reading of 50.8 - a seven month high.

A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

It is however important to note that staffing levels fell for the eighth straight month, albeit at a slower pace.

"This confirms the trend of stronger demand and faster de-stocking," Hongbin Qu, chief economist China at HSBC, said in a press release. "The economy continues to show more signs of recovery, and this momentum will likely continue over the next few months, supported by stronger infrastructure investments."

"However there are still downside risks from a slowdown in the property market, which will continue to put pressure on growth in the second half of the year. We expect both fiscal and monetary policy to remain accommodative until the recovery is sustained."

Here's a look at the trajectory of Chinese manufacturing PMI:

Markit Economics/HSBC

Earlier this evening, we got the official PMI number which showed manufacturing climbed to 51.

Beijing announced a mini-stimulus following weak economic data at the start of the year and the People's Bank of China announced targeted reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cuts. This is expected to have improved business sentiment.