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China's export market for goods remained lacklustre in April

WITH the Chinese New Year holiday over, export growth will likely remain sluggish, according to Mizuho economists with imports likely to decline four per cent, improving from March's 7.6 per cent decrease.

That would bring China's trade surplus to $40 billion in April, compared with a surplus of $29.86 billion in March.

China's outbound shipments likely saw flat year-on-year growth in April, following a spike of 11.5 per cent in March. March's one-off rebound was mainly due to seasonal distortions after the Lunar New Year holiday in February, Mizuho economists said.

"We generally expect to see a moderate extension of the improvement in economic activity first seen in March, again on the back of government stimulus," economists from Mizuho Securities Co reports the Wall Street Journal.

The country's trade of goods with the rest of the world likely remained lacklustre despite initial signs of warming external demand.

China's industrial production slowed to 6.6 per cent in April, down from a rise of 6.8 per cent in March, while growth in retail sales rose by 10.6 per cent, up fractionally from 10.5 per cent in March.

With growth continuing to rebound and the impact of earlier stimulus efforts still coming through, the momentum of policy easing may have peaked in the near term, economists from UBS Securities Asia Ltd, said in a report.