China's growth loses steam in Q4

CHINA'S growth momentum slowed in the fourth quarter last year as gains in factory production and investment spending eased.

Gross domestic product rose 7.7 per cent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier - a six-month low - compared with 7.8 per cent in Q3, data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Economists had expected a slight dip in growth in Q4.

A further slowdown would test the government's willingness to implement the broadest policy shifts since the 1990s and tackle debt-fuelled investment, after President Xi Jinping scrapped a goal of "relatively fast" growth in his first year in office.