Chinese industrial production and urban fixed asset investment had a strong start to 2018, with growth for both measures coming in above estimates.
Industrial production grew 7.2 per cent year on year in the first two months of 2018, the fastest pace of growth since June 2017, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. That figure was up from 6.2 per cent growth in the previous month and came in comfortably above a median estimate of 6.1 per cent growth.
Urban fixed-asset investment, meanwhile, rose 7.9 per cent in the first two months of 2018, climbing from 7.2 per cent growth in December. Economists had forecast 7 per cent growth. Investment by state-controlled firms to the end of February grew 9.2 per cent while that for the private sector rose 8.1 per cent.