CHINA JAN-FEB INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT RISES 7%, BEATS EXPECTATIONS

China's industrial output grew 7.0% year-on-year in the January-February period, data showed on Monday, accelerating from the 6.8% pace seen in December and beating expectations, marking a solid start for 2024 and offering tentative relief to policymakers.

Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose 5.5% in the first two months of the year, slowing from a 7.4% increase in December. Analysts had expected retail sales to grow 5.2%. Fixed asset investment expanded 4.2% in the two-month period from the same period a year earlier, versus expectations for a 3.2% rise. It grew 3.0% in the whole of 2023.

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