China Retail Sales, Industrial Production Rise

China’s retail sales and industrial production grew more than expected in January to February period, official data revealed on Tuesday.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales advanced 6.7 percent on a yearly basis, bigger than the economists’ forecast of 3.0 percent. Nonetheless, the pace of growth slowed from 12.5 percent expansion seen in December.

Industrial output logged an annual growth of 7.5 percent, which was also better than the 3.9 percent rise expected by economists.

Fixed asset investment advanced 12.2 percent from the last year versus the expected growth of 5.0 percent.

“All three activity data releases were better than expectations, but the highlight for us was the strength of retail sales,” Iris Pang, an ING economist, said. This is even more notable during a period of strict people flow control during the Chinese New Year holidays.