China’s Retail Sales increased by 1.3% year-over-year (YoY) in November, falling well short of market expectations for a 2.9% rise, according to data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The reading also marked a sharp slowdown compared with the 2.9% growth recorded in October.
Industrial Production expanded by 4.8% YoY over the same period, easing from 4.9% in October and missing forecasts that pointed to a 5.0% increase, signaling continued weakness in China’s manufacturing momentum.
In addition, Fixed Asset Investment declined by 2.6% year-to-date (YTD) YoY in November, underperforming expectations of a 2.3% contraction. The previous reading stood at a 1.7% decline, highlighting further softening in investment activity.
AUD/USD reaction to Chinese data
Despite the broadly weaker-than-expected Chinese data, the Australian Dollar showed limited reaction. At the time of writing, the AUD/USD pair was trading slightly higher on the day, up 0.03% near the 0.6653 level, suggesting that markets had largely priced in the soft economic figures from China
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