China’s economic data indicated further slowing momentum last month, with lingering caution in consumer spending adding to pressure from the country’s struggling property sector.
Retail sales, a crucial gauge of consumption, rose just 3.9 per cent year on year in November, well below economists’ forecasts of 4.7 per cent. A slight improvement in industrial activity, which grew 3.8 per cent, was overshadowed by a drop in investment across the real estate industry.
New home prices lost 0.3 per cent, their steepest fall since early 2015 and a third consecutive month of declines. Property investment rose 6 per cent in China over the year to the end of November, compared with a 7.2 per cent rise by the end of October.