China’s economy has shown some renewed signs of weakness as key consumption and investment indicators have missed expectations, while Beijing continues to grapple with challenges such as a prolonged real estate market slump and declining business confidence.
Retail sales, a key gauge of domestic consumption, rose 10.1% from a year earlier in November, surpassing October’s 7.6% growth but not the 12.9% growth seen by economists surveyed was expected.
Chinese retail sales fell from the previous month, shrinking 0.06% from October.
Industrial production growth, meanwhile, rose to 6.6% year-on-year from 4.6% in October, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The result exceeded the 5.9% increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Investments in fixed assets increased by 2.9% in the period January to November, in line with the pace of the first ten months of the year. Economists had expected fixed asset investment to grow 3% annually.
The urban unemployment rate surveyed in China was 5% in November, the same rate as in October.