China economy loses more steam in April, more stimulus on the cards

China's Jan-April fixed asset investment up 12%

China's fixed asset investment rose 12 percent from a year earlier to 12 trillion yuan ($1.96 trillion) in the first four months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

The increase slowed from the 13.5-percent growth registered in the first quarter (Q1).

The calculation does not include fixed-asset investment by farmers. It includes projects with investment of at least 5 million yuan, as well as all property development projects.

In the first four months, fixed-asset investment in primary industry grew the most rapidly, up 26.4 percent year on year to 271.2 billion yuan. This growth is 6.4 percentage points lower than that recorded in the Q1.

Fixed-asset investment in secondary industry saw 9.8 percent of growth year on year to 4.92 trillion yuan. Growth dropped 1.2 percentage points from the first three months.

Fixed-asset investment in tertiary industry grew 13.2 percent year on year to 6.81 trillion yuan. Growth was 1.5 percentage points lower than the Q1 level.