China's growth beat expectations in the first two months of the year.

Industrial output jumped 7.2 percent for January and February --one percentage point faster than in December and the highest in seven months. Materials production benefited from the de-capacity drive. Fixed assets investment picked up to 7.9 percent --thanks to strong property investment, which was 10% in the period. Infrastructure investment slowed while environment, agriculture and public utilities' investment all jumped. On the consumer side, retail sales rose 9.7 percent, keeping with the 10% or so trend growth level. Consumption growth was especially buoyant in higher-end categories such as healthcare, electronics and cosmetics.