Asian markets kept their nerve on Monday as data showed the Chinese economy slowed at the end of last year, underlining the urgent need for more stimulus as Beijing wrestles with the United States over trade.
China’s primary aluminum output defied low prices to rise for a second straight month to a record high in December as falling alumina costs boosted margins, while 2018 annual output was also a record, official data showed on Monday.
Encouraging China’s banks to actively increase support for the real economy, rather than relying on authorities’ orders to boost lending, is the key to improving the supply of credit in the economy, a central bank official said on Monday.
Oil prices rose to their highest for 2019 on Monday after data showed refinery processing in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, climbed to a record in 2018, despite a slowing economy last year.
China has ample room for macro policy support, Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, after the world’s second-largest economy grew at the slowest pace since the global financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Oil prices firmed on Monday after data showed China’s economic slowdown was not as big as some analysts had expected, with supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also offering support.
Chinese oil refiners raised their output to a record in 2018, led by state-run oil majors which maximized operations on firm profit-margins and private refiners which increased processing after being granted higher crude import quotas.
Nissan CEO Hirota Saikawa said on Monday that he had not heard directly about a reported French proposal to integrate the Japanese carmaker’s management with Renault, adding that it was not the time to discuss revising the partners’ capital ties.
Growth in property investment in China cooled to the second slowest pace in 2018 in December, adding to signs of a further slackening in the real estate market in a blow to a key driver economic growth.
China’s economic growth cooled slightly in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as expected, weighed down by weak investment and faltering consumer confidence as Washington piled on trade pressure, leaving 2018 growth the weakest in 28 years.
China’s economic growth cooled slightly in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as expected, weighed down by weak investment and faltering consumer confidence as Washington piled on trade pressure, leaving 2018 growth the weakest in 28 years.
China’s average daily steel output in December hit its lowest level since March, according to Reuters calculations based on official data, as producers cut output amid shrinking profit-margins.
China’s survey-based jobless rate was 4.9 percent at the end of December, the statistics bureau said on Monday, slightly up from 4.8 percent in November.
China’s economy grew 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, in line with expectations and slower than the previous quarter’s 6.5 percent growth.
Nissan CEO Hirota Saikawa told reporters on Monday that he had not heard directly about a reported French proposal to integrate Nissan’s management with France’s Renault, adding that it was not the stage to discuss revising their capital ties.
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