Retail sales rose less than expected during the January-February period in China despite accelerated growth in both industrial production and fixed asset investment, with state spending bolstering the latter.
Retail sales surprised on the downside, growing 9.5 per cent year on year in the first two months of 2017. That was down from 10.4 per cent growth in the twelve months ended December as well as lower from the 10.2 per cent rise seen for the same period in 2016.
The rise was also more than a percentage point short of a median estimate of 10.6 per cent from economists polled by Bloomberg. The softening was more pronounced at above-scale enterprises, where sales growth came in at 6.8 per cent, though online purchases of goods were up 25.5 per cent from the previous year.