HONG KONG -- China's manufacturing activity grew for the second consecutive month in April, though the rate of expansion decreased amid weak domestic demand and a still-sluggish property sector.
The country's benchmark purchasing managers' index recorded 50.4 for the first month of the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Tuesday. The reading dropped from March's 50.8, but slightly beat a median forecast of 50.3 in a Reuters poll of economists.
