Chinese economy continued to lose momentum in October

Economic activity in the People's Republic of China continued to slow down in October, pointing to at least further mild policy easing from the country's central bank before the end of the year and an economy that was heading into 2020 with scant momentum.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the rate of increase in Chinese fixed asset investment slowed from 5.4% for September to 5.2% in October (consensus: 5.4%).

So too, the year-on-year rate of change in Chinese industrial production declined from 5.8% to 4.7% (consensus: 5.4%) and that of retail sales from 7.8% to 7.2% (consensus: 7.8%).

Commenting on Thursday's spate of Chinese data, Freya Beamish at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the FAI numbers were "particularly weak" while the retail sales figures revealed that real spending "took a beating", as nominal sales fell to a six-monh low despite skyrocketing food inflation.

"Overall, today's activity data add weight to our view that the [People's Bank of China] will pursue further, albeit mild, easing measures before the end of the year, including another 5bp cut to the rate corridor and phased RRR cut," Beamish said.

"The poor numbers chime with our recent downgrades to GDP growth, with the economy heading into 2020 with little momentum."