BEIJING — China’s annual industrial output rose 10.4 percent in August, beating market expectations, data released Tuesday showed, pushing stocks to a three-month high amid other positive reports.

Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of economic activity, rose 20.3 percent in the first eight months from the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. Retail sales rose 13.4 percent.

China’s power output also climbed for a fourth month in August, official data releasted Tuesday showed, posting the second-highest monthly growth this year in a searing summer.

Power production and consumption have been rising steadily since May, as the economy has stabilized after a prolonged slowdown.

Electricity output was 498.7 billion kilowatt-hours in August, up 4.02 percent from July and 13.4 percent from the same period a year earlier, the statistics bureau said. Production growth in the first eight months of 2013 was 6.4 percent.

Thermal power accounts for nearly 80 percent of China’s total generation, but despite improved electricity consumption, local prices for steam coal, a grade of coal used in power generation, have continued to fall as major coal producers have cut prices to gain market share.

Chinese coal prices have fallen 17 percent so far this year to 540 renminbi, or $88.23, per ton last week, according to the Bohai-Bay Rim Steam Coal index.

Meanwhile, real estate investment rose 19.3 percent in the first eight months of 2013 from the same period a year earlier, while the revenue from property sales rose 34.4 percent, the statistics bureau said.

The increase in investment compares with an increase of 20.5 percent for the period from January to July, while the increase in revenue compares with a 37.8 percent rise in that period.

China has been trying to temper home price increases for the past four years, but its efforts have been partly undone by strong demand that has pushed up prices and by efforts by local governments to sell land to developers for much-needed revenue.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended the trading day up 1.2 percent at 2,237.98 points. The CSI300 index of the leading Shanghai and Shenzhen listings rose 1.4 percent, as both reached their highest closings since early June.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/11/business/global/economic-data-lift-chinese-stocks-to-3-month-high.html?partner=rss&emc=rss