China's factory sector lost momentum in April, with growth slowing to its weakest pace in seven months as domestic and export demand faltered, a private survey showed on Tuesday.
The findings echoed those in official manufacturing and service sector data on Sunday, reinforcing views that China 's economic growth remains solid but is starting to moderate after a surprisingly strong start to the year.
The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.3 in April, missing economist forecasts' of 51.0 and a significant decline from March's 51.2.
The index remained above the 50.0 mark which separates expansion from contraction on a monthly basis, but only just, and grew at its slowest pace since September 2016.
"Downward pressure on manufacturing gradually emerged in April, with all indicators weakening," said Zhengsheng Zhong, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis at CEBM Group.
Production growth and total new orders rose at the slowest pace since last September, with both showing only slight improvement from the previous month.
Sharp falls in prices of iron ore, steel and other raw materials led to a sharp cooling in producer price inflation.
The official manufacturing PMI fell less sharply but still slid to a six-month low of 51.2 in April from March's near five-year high of 51.8, according to data at the weekend. Analysts had expected a reading of 51.6.
Growth in China's services sector slowed to 54.0 in April, from the previous month's 55.1, but remained robust.
BNP Paribas' senior economist for Greater China, Chi Lo said the data showed the Chinese economy was still facing "quite a lot of" headwind, although economic growth for 2017 will still be around Beijing's target around 6.5 percent .
However, there are other worries for investors.
"The near-term concern the market has is more on the regulatory tightening to clean up the system rather than the growth slowdown," Lo told CNBC's " Squawk Box ".
The Chinese central bank is trying to reign in leverage in the wholesale funding market that is used primarily by smaller regional banks and shadow banks to fund a range of activities including asset purchases and financing capital outflows, which authorities are trying to stem.
SLOW MODERATION EXPECTED, NOT SHARP COOLDOWN
China's economy expanded 6.9 percent in the first quarter, fueled by a construction boom. That is likely to give it enough of a tailwind to hit Beijing's full-year target of around 6.5 percent even if growth slowly fades in coming months as many analysts predict.