Influx of China data adds to slowdown concerns as growth falters

A raft of economic data from China missed expectations on Wednesday, adding to concerns about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

Figures released overnight revealed that fixed asset investment, retail sales and industrial production all grew less than expected in February, with the latter coming in at its slowest pace in nearly six years.

The data came just a week after China's government lowered its economic growth target to "around 7%" this year. The government missed its original growth target of 7.5% in 2014, growing by 7.4%, representing the slowest rate of expansion in 24 years.

The annual rate of fixed asset investment growth slowed to 13.9% last month from 15.7% in January, missing expectations for a 15% increase.

Retail sales grew 10.7% year-on-year in February, compared with 12% previously and the 11.6% consensus estimate.

Meanwhile, industrial production growth eased to just 6.8% from 8.3%, disappointing analysts looking for an increase of 7.7%. This was the lowest increase since March 2009.

"It’s become quite normal to be disappointed with Chinese data releases and the People's Bank of China offering monetary stimulus in an effort to offset this has helped cushion the blow quite well, but this morning’s data is pretty dire," said analyst Craig Erlam from FX trading group Oanda.

"Of course, the Chinese Lunar New Year could be blamed for such a decline and it always makes more sense to average out the first two or three months of the year to get a better picture, but these levels are the worst in years so you can’t totally ignore it."