The Hang Send stock index is down 3.71% after China missed fourth-quarter GDP estimates, the latest sign that the country’s economy is slowing.
China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the final three months of 2023 rose by 5.2%, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.
That reading came in below the 5.3% growth forecast among economists who were polled by the Reuters News Agency.
GDP growth in China for all of last year was 5.2%, matching expectations.
The Q4 reading on economic output in China sent the Hang Seng index, China’s main stock exchange, down nearly 4%, with most sectors and stocks dropping.
So far in 2024, the Hang Send has declined 9% compared to a 0.49% dip in the benchmark S&P 500 index in the U.S.
The latest GDP reading in China showed that property prices in 70 major Chinese cities fell by 0.4% in December from the previous month.
Real estate, which makes up more than 20% of China’s economy, has seen a government crackdown in recent months on developers’ reliance on high levels of debt.
China’s statistics bureau also resumed reporting figures on youth unemployment with the latest GDP data.
It showed that the unemployment rate for young people aged 16 to 24 stood at 14.9% in December.
The government in Beijing had suspended the release of youth unemployment, citing the need to reassess calculation methods.
Youth unemployment had previously been at record levels above 20%.
Other data points included retail sales that rose 7.4% in December from a year earlier, and industrial production increased by 6.8% in December from a year ago.
China’s GDP growth is expected to slow further to 4.6% in 2024, according to the consensus forecast of economists.
