China sees faster growth in fixed asset investment in first two months of 2025

China's fixed asset investment grew at a faster pace than a year earlier, with investment in high-tech industries going up significantly, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The investment totaled 5.2619 trillion yuan (about 734 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-February period, up 4.1 percent year on year and 0.9 percentage points higher than the full-year growth rate of 2024, said Fu Linghui, an NBS spokesman, at a press conference in Beijing,

"Excluding the property sector, the investment in fixed assets went up by 8.4 percent. Specifically, investment in infrastructure construction grew by 5.6 percent year on year, manufacturing investment rose by 9.0 percent, real estate development declined by 9.8 percent. New commercial housing sales shrank 5.1 percent year on year in terms of floor area to 107.46 million square meters, a reduction of 7.8 percentage points smaller than last year's full-year decline. In terms of value, new commercial housing sales dropped 2.6 percent year on year to nearly 1.026 trillion yuan, with the decrease narrowing by 14.5 percentage points," said Fu.

Investment in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors went up by 12.2 percent, 11.4 percent, and 0.7 percent, respectively, according to Fu.

"The private investment maintained the same level as that of last year, increasing by 6.0 percent excluding the real estate sector. The investment in high-tech industries grew by 9.7 percent year on year, of which investment in information services, e-commerce services, computer and office device manufacturing, aerospace vehicle and equipment manufacturing grew by 66.4 percent, 31.9 percent, 31.6 percent, and 27.1 percent, respectively. In February, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) edged up by 0.49 percent over that of the previous month," said Fu.

Chinese stocks closed mixed on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.26 percent to 4,084.79 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.19 percent higher at 14,307.58 points.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.41 percent to close at 3,357.02 points.

The ChiNext Index, together with the Shenzhen Component Index and other indices, reflects the performance of stocks listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.