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China's urban fixed asset investments have grown rapidly, government says

"There looks to be little sign of a cooling on the mainland, meaning it was business as usual on the growth front."

David Melser, an analyst with Moody's Economy.com

China's urban fixed asset investments posted a robust rise in the first 11 months, the government said yesterday, suggesting it was still a long way away from reining in Asia's second-largest economy.

Spending on fixed assets in the cities rose 26.8 percent in the period from January to last month compared with a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

"There looks to be little sign of a cooling on the mainland, meaning it was business as usual on the growth front," said David Melser, an analyst with Moody's Economy.com.

Overall urban fixed assets investment -- a key measure of spending on items such as plants, equipment and infrastructure -- for the period was 10.1 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion), the bureau said in a statement.

No figure for last month alone was given. However, the full 11 month data indicated no major change during the month, as the first 10 months had seen an increase of 26.9 percent.

"In our view, the underlying growth momentum ... remains robust, which is consistent with the strong import data," investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a research note.

Imports increased at a faster rate than exports last month, rising 25.3 percent from a year earlier to US$91.3 billion, earlier customs data showed, suggesting strong demand derived from investment.

The fixed asset data came at the end of a week of statistics releases in China that indicated to varying degrees continued strong growth.

The most salient figure was a 6.9-percent rise in the consumer price index, marking the highest inflation figure since December 1996.

"The likelihood of a near-term interest rate move remains high," said Grace Ng, Hong Kong-based economist of JPMorgan Chase Bank.

"This is so, especially considering the upside surprise in November ... inflation and the authorities' target to correct the negative real deposit rate condition."

China has already hiked the interest rate five times this year, while raising the amount banks must keep in reserve 10 times.
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