China's Q3 economic growth cools to 6.9% year on year, but beats forecasts slightly

[BEIJING] China's economic growth eased to 6.9 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, beating expectations but still the slowest since the global financial crisis, putting pressure on policymakers to roll out more support measures as fears of a sharper slowdown spook investors.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted gross domestic product (GDP) for the world's second-largest economy would come in at 6.8 per cent, compared with 7 per cent in the prior quarter.

Quarter-on-quarter growth was 1.8 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics said at a news conference on Monday.

The market had expected GDP growth to come in at 1.7 per cent on a quarterly basis, compared to a revised reading of 1.8 per cent the prior quarter.

Fixed-asset investment growth eased to 10.3 per cent year-on-year in the Jan-September period, missing market expectations.

Analysts polled by Reuters predicted investment growth would come in at 10.8 per cent, compared with 10.9 per cent posted the prior month.

Industrial output growth also cooled more than expected to 5.7 per cent, disappointing analysts who expected it to rise 6 per cent on an annual basis after a rise of 6.1 per cent the prior month.

Retail sales quickened to 10.9 per cent.

Analysts forecast they would rise 10.8 per cent on an annual basis after a rise of 10.8 per cent the prior month.

REUTERS