Key macro indicators slow

Fixed-asset investment growth slowed in August for the second consecutive month to 21.5%, National Bureau of Statistics released Wednesday showed. Spending on roads, property and factories in cities and towns came in 5.9 percentage points lower than the 27.4% year-on-year growth registered for July, and 12 percentage points lower than the 33.5% rate in June. For the first eight months of the year, urban fixed-asset investment grew 29.1% year-on-year, down from the 30.5% growth in the first seven. It grew at 25.7% last year. The bureau said separately that China's retail sales in August rose 13.8% year-on-year, slightly faster than the 13.7% pace recorded in July. Sales climbed 13.5% for January-August from the year-earlier period. Meanwhile, the state-run Shanghai Securities News cited unnamed people as saying that China's broadest gauge of money supply, M2, grew by 17.94% at the end of August from the same month last year. If confirmed by official data later this week, it would represent the slowest M2 increase so far this year, although the rate would still be above China's full year target of a 16% rise, the Wall Street Journal reported.