China's manufacturing sector remained unchanged on a monthly basis in June, showing that the sector has stabilized after a slide in May, official data showed on Sunday. 

One expert suggested that the positive turn in the China-US trade relations should drive up domestic manufacturing in the next few months. 

The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), a preliminary readout of the country's manufacturing activity, came in at 49.4 in June, the same as in May, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday morning. 

China's PMI reading had dipped by 0.7 percentage points in May compared with 50.1 in April. 

A PMI reading above 50 points suggests industrial expansion, while one lower than that suggests contraction.

Liu Xuezhi, an economist at the research center under the Bank of Communications, told the Global Time on Sunday that judging by the figures, the manufacturing sector remained "weak" as a result of sluggish demands at home and abroad. 

The Bank of Communications' research team had forecast the June PMI at 49.8. 

But Liu said that the PMI should rebound in the next few months as the China-US trade tensions are expected to come down as the two governments agreed to restart their talks. 

Top leaders from China and the US reached an agreement during the just-concluded G20 summit in Osaka, Japan to restart their trade consultations between the two countries, and the US side said it won't impose new tariffs on imports from China, Xinhua reported. 

According to Liu, the domestic tax reduction policies were being implemented from April , which will help boost market confidence. 

But he cautioned that an above-50 PMI reading is still "not easy to achieve". 

The non-manufacturing PMI that covers the services sector was 54.2 in June, down by 0.1 percentage point from May, the NBS data showed. 

Global Times