“China’s trade expanded more than estimated and a broad measure of credit rose to a record in a January that had five more working days than last year, helping sustain a rebound in the world’s second-biggest economy.
Exports gained 25 percent from a year earlier and imports rose 28.8 percent, government data showed today. Aggregate financing was 2.54 trillion yuan ($407 billion), including new local-currency loans of 1.07 trillion yuan that exceeded forecasts, while inflation was 2 percent.
China’s trade and credit data may indicate a strengthening economy, even as indicators in the first two months are distorted by the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday that was in January in 2012 and starts tomorrow for 2013. The new leadership, headed by Xi Jinping, is seeking to sustain a recovery without fueling inflation or spurring excessive financial risks from shadow banking and local-government debt.
“China’s growth recovery remains on track and inflation pressures remain manageable,” said Chang Jian, a Hong Kong- based economist at Barclays Plc who formerly worked for the World Bank. That is likely to add to “recent positive market sentiment,” she said.
The Shanghai Composite Index, China’s benchmark stock gauge, rose 0.6 percent. It has gained 24 percent since Dec. 3. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks fell 0.1 percent as of 6:01 p.m. in Tokyo.
M2 money supply rose 15.9 percent in January from a year earlier, the People’s Bank of China said today, exceeding the 14 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
