china rising9 Aug 2013 08:18
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- China's industrial production grew at the fastest pace since February, rising 9.7% in July from a year earlier, though retail-sales growth slowed slightly, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. The strong gain for industrial production compared to a 8.9% gain in June, and exceeded forecasts for a 9% gain in separate Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires surveys of economists. Retail sales, however, eased to a 13.2% growth rate from June's 13.3%, though it still marked the second-best month this year. The retail results lagged expectations for a 13.5% gain in the Reuters poll. Urban fixed-asset investment -- watched as an indicator of construction spending -- grew an average 20.1% in the January-July period, the same as for January-June and ahead of a 20% projection from the two newswires' surveys.