BEIJING--There was more evidence of weakness in China's huge manufacturing sector in December, a soft end to the year that suggests the country will likely miss its 2014 economic growth target.

The government's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a gauge of conditions in the industry, slipped to 50.1 in December from 50.3 a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday---the lowest reading in a year and a half. Any number above 50 indicates expansion, but the pace of growth is now marginal.

A competing index released on Wednesday by HSBC and research firm Markit dropped to 49.6 in December, from 50.0 the previous month.

"China's manufacturing sector, especially those industries related to the property market, is still struggling," said Li-Gang Liu, an economist at ANZ Bank. "China is entering a "new normal" economy."

There was a small recovery in export orders, according to the official PMI, with that subindex rising to 49.1 from 48.4, but new orders overall fell to 52.2 from 52.5. That suggests China's domestic demand is softening. A stalling housing market has had a knock-on effect on manufacturers in many industries, from construction machinery to furniture.

Both PMIs also indicated that wholesale prices for raw materials and manufactured goods continued to fall, with the official PMI subindex for raw material prices dropping to 43.2, the lowest figure for 2014.

China's manufacturing sector has suffered from deflation for almost three years, because of a combination of excess factory capacity at home and falling prices for raw materials on global markets. While companies benefit from lower input prices, deflation also makes it harder for them to repay their loans.

"We believe that weaker economic activity and stronger disinflationary pressures warrant further monetary easing in the coming months," said Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief economist for China.

China's central bank cut benchmark interest rates to by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.75% in November, the first interest rate move since 2012.

Despite this and other small stimulus measures, including a pickup in the pace of spending on railway construction, most economists believe China will fall short of its 7.5% economic growth target for 2014. Growth in the third quarter came in modestly below-target at 7.3%.

Officials have stressed that the target is an approximate one, and that they will tolerate slightly slower growth without resorting to the large-scale stimulus that China enacted in response to 2008 financial crisis.

The economic growth figures for 2014 are scheduled to be released on Jan. 20, with this year's target to be published in March. If China fails to achieve its growth target, it would be the first in more than a decade and could prompt policy makers to lower the target for 2015, economists said.

Write to Richard Silk at richard.silk@wsj.com

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