China's July investment, output, retail underperform

Beijing

GROWTH in China's factory output, investment and retail sales were all weaker than expected in July, adding pressure on Beijing to roll out more measures to prevent a deeper slowdown, days after it shocked markets by devaluing its currency.

While the central bank insisted on Wednesday that it would not let the yuan slide too far, the devaluation came days after data showed a hefty drop in exports and producer prices, which clearly weighed on Chinese manufacturers last month.

Nearly all data released for July was weaker than economists had forecast, pointing to furthe…