The composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) of China stood at 53.3 in May, slightly down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, as the country's corporate business activities remained basically steady, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

The PMI for manufacturing sector came in at 49.4, down 0.7 percentage points from the previous month. However, the PMI for non-manufacturing sector stayed the same as the previous month at 54.3, showing its continous momentum of steady growth.

Sector-specific figures for non-manufacturing industry showed relatively fast growth momentum in the service sector, with the indexes for railway and air transport, post, accomodation, telecom, broadcast, internet software information technologies all standing above 60. The figure for construction services fell by 1.5 percentage points to 58.6, still in a range of fast expansion. As for the manufacturing industry, large enterprises' PMI registered 50.3 in May, down 0.5 percentage points. Medium-sized and small manufacturing firms saw a decline of 0.3 and 2 percentage points respectively to 48.8 and 47.8.