MNI DATA IMPACT: China Q3 GDP Grows 4.9%; Spending Surges

China's GDP surged 4.9% y/y in Q3, further expanding from the 3.2% in Q2 but shy of the 5.5% gain projected by economists, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

"China has the basic conditions and confidence that the current growth momentum can be maintained" into the fourth quarter, said NBS spokeswoman Liu Aihua.

Here are some of the data highlights:

• Industrial production grew for the sixth month by 6.9% y/y in Sep, up from the 5.6% gain in Aug and outperforming the 5.8% forecast. Accumulated growth for the first nine months rose 1.2% y/y, further accelerating from the previous 0.4% growth.
• Retail sales jumped 3.3% y/y in Sep, further expanding from a 0.5% gain in August, outshining the 1.8% projected result.
• Fixed-asset Investment turned positive for the first time this year to grow 0.8% y/y for the first three quarters, reversing the 0.3% fall in the Jan-Aug period, although lower than the projection of 0.9%. This was partly due to the slow recovery in manufacturing investment, which fell 6.5% after the 8.1% decline in Jan-Aug.
• Infrastructure investment growth also turned positive with a 0.2% gain, reversing the 0.3% decline in Jan-Aug. Meanwhile, property investment growth expanded to 5.6% y/y, growing for the fourth month from the previous 4.6%.
• Registered urban unemployment edged down 0.2 percentage point to 5.4% from August. The rate in 31 major cities was also down 0.2 pp to 5.5%.