China's economy slowed for a seventh straight quarter in July-September as the country registered an economic growth of 7.4 percent in the third quarter, a deceleration from the second quarter's 7.6 percent growth.
According to its National Bureau of Statistics, the GDP rate marked a decline from a 7.6 percent growth rate in the prior quarter and is below the government's 2012 target rate of 7.5 percent. However, the results matched the expectations in the separate forecasts by Dow Jones and Reuters.
Despite the lowest growth rate since early 2009, China showed certain positive signs as its quarter-on-quarter growth rate rose to 2.2 per cent which is above the consensus expectations of 2.0 percent. China's GDP expanded 7.7 percent from a year earlier during the first nine months of the year.
Economics opined that the conditions right now are set for further gains into the fourth quarter. There were signs of hope in the Chinese premier's words as he said, "economic growth has started to stabilise" suggesting the growth will soon begin picking up.
The date revealed that retail sales in September gained 14.2 percent, an increase from August's 13.2 percent result and beating a 13.2 percent forecast from the Reuters' poll. Industrial production showed a positive advancement of 9.2 percent for the month from the same period a year earlier. It was 8.9 percent in August.
Fixed-asset investment in urban areas increased to 20.5 percent in January-September period from the year-earlier period, which is a 20.2 percent rise in the first eight months of the year. Retail sales in China rose to 14.2 percent in September from a year earlier. Retail sales were at 13.2 percent in August. The factory output registered a 9.2 percent growth, which is slightly ahead of both the 9.0 percent forecast and August's 8.9 percent.
There was a slow but positive reaction in the Chinese stock market where the Shanghai Composite index was trading up 0.5 percent at 2116.02 after the data was released.
