Chinese retail sales jumped 18.1% in October from a year earlier, the fastest pace on record, propelled by rising incomes, accelerating inflation and windfall gains from the surging stock market.
The sturdy rise in sales, which beat forecasts of a 17.2% gain, will be welcome news for policy makers, who are striving to tilt China's growth away from investment and exports and towards consumption.
A spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said the increase was the largest since the bureau started issuing monthly sales data in 1999. China is on course to contribute more than the US to global growth this year for the first time.
Shoppers were out in force last month because of a week-long national holiday in early October and the wealth effect from booming share and house prices.
Figures also released today showed annual property price inflation in 70 major cities quickened to 9.5% in October from 8.9% in September. In Beijing and Shenzhen, prices were up 15-20%.
