China's official manufacturing PMI climbed to 50.3 in March.
This beat expectations for a modest decline to 50.1, and is up from a reading of 50.2 in February.
A reading below 50 indicates contraction.
We've already seen HSBC PMI fall into contractionary territory.
Bank of America's Ting Lu is looking for PMI to hold steady in part because of seasonality.
"The recent vow by the government to speed up infrastructure investment to maintain stable growth could slightly help boost sentiment," he wrote ahead of the data release.
Bloomberg economist Tom Orlik tweeted this chart that shows official and HSBC PMI diverging:
Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar jumped on the news:
$AUD spike on China March official PMI coming in as f'cast: 50.3 pic.twitter.com/TbR3XEjRk0
— Deirdre Wang Morris (@deeCNBC) April 1, 2014SEE ALSO: 5 Questions About The Renminbi You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask