Investing.com - China’s first quarter GDP, March industrial output and retail sales all came better than expected, official data showed on Wednesday.
The National Bureau of Statistics reported that China’s economy expanded 6.4% in the first quarter of 2019, compared to the expected 6.3%.The figure, however, was significantly below last year’s first-quarter growth of 6.8%.
Industrial production jumped 8.5% year-on-year in March, higher than the estimated 5.9%, to register the fastest growth since 2014.
Retail sales during the month was also higher than expectations, while fixed-asset investment were in line with expectations.
The latest set of Chinese data eased investors’ concern of a global economic growth slowdown. On Tuesday, data showed housing prices in China rose at the fastest pace since 2017 in March. Trade and credit data released on last Friday were also better than expected.
Chinese stocks opened lower on Wednesday, but turned positive after the release of today’s data.
The Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were up 0.1% and 0.2% respectively by 1:15 AM ET (05:10 GMT).