MNI DATA IMPACT: China's April Retail Sales Hit 16-year Low

     BEIJING (MNI) - China's April macroeconomic indicators came in much lower

than expected on Wednesday. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics

(NBS) on Wednesday showed that retail sales hit a 16-year low, while industrial

output fell back sharply from a four-and-a-half-year high in March.

     Here are key points MNI highlights from the data:

     - Retail sales growth was 7.2% y/y, missing the 8.6% forecast polled by MNI

and decelerating from 8.7% in March. This was the lowest level since May 2003

when growth was at 4.3%. 

     - Industrial output growth fell sharply to 5.4% y/y in April from March's

8.5%, posting the second lowest level this year after 5.3% in the first two

months. The result was below the 6.3% projected by analysts polled by MNI.

     - Fixed-asset investment (FAI) recorded 6.1% y/y growth in the Jan-April

period, missing the 6.4% median forecast in an MNI survey and lower than the

6.3% recorded in the first three months.  

     - Property investment rose by 11.9% y/y, continuing the strength that saw

growth of 11.8% in Jan-March. Infrastructure investment grew by 4.4% y/y,

slowing from 4.6% in the first three months.

     - The surveyed unemployment rate fell to 5.0% y/y in April from March's

5.2%, lower than the target of 'around 5.5%'. The surveyed unemployment rate in

the 31 biggest cities came in at 5.0%, down 0.1 percentage points on last month.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: wanxia.lin@marketnews.com

--MNI Sydney Bureau; +61 405322399; email: lachlan.colquhoun.ext@marketnews.com

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