Chinese economy continues to cool-off in October

China's economy slowed further in October with economists eyeing scope for further cooling ahead.

Industrial production expanded at a year-on-year pace of 6.2% in October, down from a 6.6% clip in the month before, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

That was slightly less than the 6.3% which economists had penciled in.

Retail sales data also underwhelmed, with the rate of growth printing at 10% on the year after increasing by 10.3% in the month before.

Fixed asset investment also cooled with the year-to-date rate of growth slipping from 7.5% in September to 7.3% in October (consensus: 7.3%).

To take note of, Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics called attention to how FAI in fact accelerated by a tenth of a percentage point to 5.8% in year-on-year terms, as an "up-tick" in infrastructure spending and factory investment offset slower capital outlays on property.

In turn, the latter appeared to weigh on retail sales, Evans-Pritchard said.

"The upshot is that a cooling property sector and slightly softer foreign demand weighed on the economy last month. Disruptions from the anti-pollution crackdown in the north-east of the country probably contributed too," he added.

"These drags continue to be partly offset by still strong infrastructure spending. But this support seems unlikely to last given that local governments are set to reduce spending in the final months of the year in order to meet budget targets."

For their part, economists at Danske Bank said: "The housing slowdown will weigh on global metal markets and China will move from an inflationary global force over the past two years to a deflationary force again.

"Nordic export companies exposed to the Chinese construction sector should expect weaker growth rates in 2018 following two robust years in 2016 and 2017. Nevertheless, the slowdown of housing is desirable to ensure a soft landing now rather than a hard landing later."