China Jan-Oct fixed asset investment up 15.9%

BEIJING - Growth in China's fixed asset investment continued to dip in the first 10 months of the year, weighed down by a cooling property sector and weak domestic demand, official data showed on Thursday.

Urban fixed-asset investment rose 15.9 percent from a year ago to 40.62 trillion yuan ($6.62 trillion) in the first 10 months of 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The pace of growth slowed from a 16.1-percent increase in the January-September period and a 20.1-percent rise in the same 10 months of 2013.

The NBS said property investment, which affects more than 40 other sectors, continued to cool in the first 10 months, growing 12.4 percent year on year, down 0.1 percentage point from the growth rate in the first nine months.

However, property sales showed signs of improvement, indicating the country's efforts to boost the sector may have started to have an effect. Property sales fell 7.8 percent in terms of floor space, easing from an 8.6-percent drop in the Jan-Sept period, the NBS said.

Since the beginning of 2014, the Chinese property market has suffered a notable downturn, with falling prices and sluggish sales. To avoid a sharp slowdown in the property market, China on Sept 30 unveiled eased mortgage measures for home buyers.

According to the NBS data, between January and October, investment in the primary industry was up 28.9 percent, followed by 17.4-percent growth in the tertiary industry and 13.4 percent in the secondary.

During the period, investment in infrastructure (excluding the power industry) climbed 22.6 percent to 6.77 trillion yuan, with the growth pace accelerating by 0.4 percentage points from that in the Jan.-Sept. period.

The pickup in infrastructure investment suggested the government's measures to stabilize growth were taking effect, said Bob Liu, analyst at the China International Capital Corp (CICC).

The country has sped up approval of several investment projects in an effort to boost growth amid shrinking investment in the property sector.

China's economy grew at its slowest pace since the depths of global financial crisis in the third quarter, and is likely to register its weakest annual growth rate in more than 10 years.

GDP growth is expected to rebound to 7.5 percent in the last quarter and bring the full-year economic expansion to 7.4 percent, a report by China Development Bank said on Thursday.