China's economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the fourth quarter of last year, ending 2020 severely hit by the Covid-19 epidemic and growth expectations further this year.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, much better than expected to increase by 6.2% and follow a growth of 4.9% in the third quarter.
Overall, China's GDP rose 2.3% by 2020, making the country the only major economy in the world showing growth during the pandemic crisis.
With the help of strict virus prevention measures and stimulus from policymakers, the economy has recovered steadily from a contraction of 6.8% in the first three months of 2020.
In addition, it was also supported by increased Chinese exports as the threat of coronavirus around the world has driven demand for goods from the country, while also being driven by stronger yuan values.
The Asian currency, the Aussie dollar and the New Zealand dollar, unfortunately failed to take advantage of the opportunity to increase following this encouraging release of data.
In addition to China's GDP data, investors were also exposed to lower-than-expected retail sales data, indicating a lack of consumer spending.
