China manufacturing weakens in April: survey

Beijing

CHINESE factory activity weakened further in April, a private survey indicated on Tuesday, as muted demand and market weakness hit the struggling export-oriented sector.

The Purchasing Managers' Index by Caixin, which tracks activity in the country's factories and workshops, fell to 49.4 for April, a 0.3-point drop from the month before and the 14th consecutive month of decline.

A reading above 50 signals expanding activity, while anything below indicates shrinkage.

He Fan, chief economist at Caixin Insight Group, said all of the index's categories worsened month on month, indicating that the world's second-largest economy "lacks a solid foundation for recovery and is still in the p…