Thursday 19 April 2007

China's GDP surges, stock markets plunge

Good news is bad news again.

AFP/CNA reports the latest growth figures from China.

China's economy picked up speed in the first quarter, growing 11.1 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, the government said Thursday...

The three months to March posted the highest quarterly growth rate since the second quarter of last year, when the economy expanded 11.5 percent, according to revised government data.

Announcing the figures, the National Bureau of Statistics noted a whole series of concerns about the pace of economic growth which continues to run ahead despite government efforts to put the country on a more sustainable path.

"Outstanding problems existing in economic development are an imbalanced balance of payments, excessive liquidity, an irrational economic structure and high pressure on energy conservation and pollutant emissions reduction," NBS spokesman Li Xiaochao said in a statement.

China's main measure of inflation, the consumer price index, rose 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2007 from a year earlier, the NBS said.

CPI in March alone was up 3.3 percent, suggesting a pick up in price pressures.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao chimed in with warnings about overheating.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for steps to prevent fast growth from leading to an overheated economy, the government said Thursday, as first quarter GDP increased by 11.1 percent.

"We must...prevent the economy from changing from rather fast paced (growth) to overheated, while also avoiding large ups and downs," the government quoted Wen as telling a Wednesday cabinet meeting.

Earlier in the day, Asian markets had already seen this coming. From Bloomberg:

Asian stocks fell the most in a month as Chinese reports showing faster-than-expected economic growth and inflation fueled concern interest rates will rise in the region's second-largest economy. China Mobile Ltd. dropped...

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index lost 1.4 percent to 147.22 as of 6:20 p.m. in Tokyo. The measure yesterday climbed to a record 149.27, completing its recovery from a global rout that was sparked Feb. 27 by the steepest plunge in China's stocks in a decade.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.7 percent and China's CSI 300 Index plunged 4.7 percent, the most since the rout began, after closing yesterday at a new high. All of the region's markets declined.

Currency movements did not help.

A weaker dollar also weighed on Asian exporters including Canon Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., while lower metals prices contributed to slides in BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group...

The yen reached 117.61 per dollar today, the strongest since April 3. The won rose as much as 0.2 percent to 926.10, the strongest since Jan. 3, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd...

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