China Industrial Output Growth Slows in July

Industrial output in China slowed in July, after an unexpected acceleration in June, official data showed on Monday.

Value-added industrial output, a rough proxy for economic growth, rose 6.4% in July from a year earlier, compared with a 7.6% increase in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The increase came in lower than a median forecast of 7.0% growth from a Wall Street Journal poll of 13 economists.

On a month-on-month basis, industrial production increased 0.41% in July, compared with a 0.81% rise in the previous month.

Fixed-asset investment in non-rural areas of China climbed 8.3% in the first seven months of 2017 from a year earlier, slowing from an 8.6% increase over the January-June period. The rise in fixed-asset investment, a closely watched indicator of construction activity, undershot economists' median forecast for an 8.6% gain.

Retail sales grew 10.4% in July from a year earlier, slowing from an 11.0% increase in June. The reading was also below a median forecast for a 10.9% rise in July.

Retails sales rose 0.73% in July compared with the previous month. In June, they grew 0.93%.?

-- Liyan Qi

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 13, 2017 22:29 ET (02:29 GMT)