China May factory output up 9.2 percent year-on-year, meets forecast

China's industrial output grew 9.2 percent in May and retail sales rose 12.9 percent, in line with market expectations but little changed from the previous month's growth, adding to evidence of a lack of traction in the world's second-largest economy.

Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of economic activity, grew 20.4 percent in the first five months from the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial output growth of 9.3 percent and a retail sales increase of 12.9 percent in May, as well as a rise of 20.5 percent in fixed-asset investment for the January-May period.

(Reporting by Langi Chiang and Jonathan Standing)