China's holiday sales growth slows

HONG KONG, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- Growth of China's retail sales slowed during the National Day holiday this year, a government report showed Tuesday, suggesting that the world's No. 2 economy may be losing steam.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said retail sales in China reached 696.2 billion yuan (US$109.6 billion) during the Oct. 1-7 period, up 17.5 percent from a year earlier. The on-year growth in 2010 and 2009, however, was 19.5 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
Market watchers said the inflation-adjusted growth rate of retail sales for this year's holiday was lower than that for 2010.
China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, is estimated to have climbed more than 6 percent on-year last month. In September of last year, consumer prices rose 3.6 percent from the previous year.
Concerns have been growing that China's economic outlook is worsening, as market watchers worry that rising inflation and debt levels, as well as weakening export demand in the United States and Europe, could hurt the economy.
Amid such worries, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index recently dropped to the lowest level in two and half years.