China's GDP growth beats forecasts in Q1, but concerns linger over base metals' outlook

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Also Read: Nifty Metal index bounces back 3.4% from day's low amid strong spike in metal prices China has set an ambitious economic growth target of around 5% for 2024, a goal that analysts view as requiring additional stimulus measures to achieve. In addition to the GDP data, China's release of March indicators—property investment, retail sales, and industrial output—underscored the persistent weakness in domestic demand.

Despite monetary and fiscal measures aimed at revitalising the property market, recent data shows little improvement, as evidenced by the continued decline in home prices. China's primary market saw home prices drop for the 10th consecutive month in March, signaling that government interventions to support struggling developers and boost consumer confidence have been insufficient to halt the downturn.

Efforts by Chinese authorities earlier this year included injecting more funds for weak developers and reducing interest rates on home mortgages. However, these measures have not yet yielded the expected results to boost the domestic demand.

Also Read: Five Key Charts to Watch in Global Commodity Markets This Week Further, retail sales growth, a key indicator of consumption, rose by 3.1% year-on-year in March, below the forecasted increase of 4.6% and slower than the 5.5% gain in the January-February period, as per Reuters. Property investment, on the other hand, recorded a significant decline of 16.8% year-on-year in March, worse than the 9.0% drop observed in January-February, while sales plummeted by 23.7%, compared to a 20.5% fall in the first two months of the year.