November investment growth slows to 25.3%, with metals dropping most.

Chinese spending on fixed assets in November reinforced evidence that investment has been cooling in response to government efforts to prevent economic overheating.

Expenditure on such things as roads and power plants in November was up 25.3 per cent on a year earlier, extending an easing trend that began in the second half after several months that showed annual growth above 30 per cent.

Slowing investment growth appeared in the metals, textiles and coal sectors, official data showed yesterday.

November's investment rise was ahead of October, when the spending was 22.6 per cent higher than a year earlier. But it was still below September's 26.5 per cent increase and August's 30.7 per cent.

Investment from January to November was up 29.6 per cent on a year before.

"The growth of investment in metals, textiles and coal fell, with the growth in metals investment alone dropping 10 percentage points," the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Investment growth in machinery, power and non-ferrous metals saw slight increases, it said without elaborating.

Economists have voiced concern that the strong growth in fixed-asset spending, especially in sectors such as property development, is causing pockets of overheating in China's booming economy.

The growth has been cooling thanks to central bank measures to stem a flood of easy credit, and it is expected to further ease in 2004 as the government chops State funding for highways, bridges and other projects.

"We expect the on-going monetary tightening and changes in budgetary preferences to lead to a modest slowdown in fixed-asset investment growth next year," Deutsche Bank analyst Jun Ma wrote in a report.

Ma said that, after accounting for over-reporting and other statistical issues, fixed-asset spending growth would be up only 18 per cent next year, compared with an estimated 23 per cent for this year.

"Cement will be most sensitive to the investment cycle. Steel is slightly less vulnerable than cement, and power generation looks most resilient to a slowdown in investment," Ma wrote.

China is expected to step up building of power plants next year as it grapples with a severe energy crunch that has led to blackouts in many parts of the country.

Spending on infrastructure in the first 11 months, at 1.81 trillion yuan (US$219 billion), was up 27.2 per cent on a year earlier.

Property investment rose 32.5 per cent in the period to 829 billion yuan (US$106 billion) while spending on upgrades and renovation jumped 33.1 per cent to 683 billion yuan (US$88 billion).

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