China's economy recovers in October

China's economy performed better than expected in October, providing further evidence of a stabilizing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

Key indicators including industrial production, fixed-asset investment and retail sales showed accelerated growth, while inflation also eased to the slowest pace in 33 months that would allow previous easing policies to filter through.

Analysts said the country is unlikely to roll out further aggressive measures such as more cuts in the reserve requirement ratio or interest rates, given the stabilizing economic conditions.

Consumer Price Index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. The pace moderated from the increase of 1.9 percent in September and was the slowest since February, 2010.

Food costs, which account for nearly one third in the CPI basket, expanded 1.8 percent in October, down from the advance of 2.5 percent a month earlier. The non-food sector kept its growth flat at 1.7 percent.

Producer Price Index, the factory-gate measurement of inflation, fell 2.8 percent on an annual basis last month, compared with the decrease of 3.6 percent in September.

"It is safe to say inflation is no longer a threat to China's economy," said Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co. "We expect the consumer prices will fluctuate around 2 percent in the coming months, and there is no big problem for the country to achieve the goal of controlling it under 4 percent this year."

Meanwhile, China's industrial production gained 9.6 percent annually in October, accelerating from the pace of 9.2 percent a month earlier. Retail sales increased 14.5 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from that in September thanks to the longer National Day holiday.

Fixed-asset investment reported its growth expanded to 20.7 percent in the first ten months from 20.5 percent in the first three quarter, after the government quickened the process of approving big projects.

Zhou Hao, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, said the moderating inflation means there is big enough room for the central bank to keep the overall policies relaxed.