Investors will get a health check on China's economy this week, with June inflation and trade numbers out on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. And the data are expected to confirm that sluggish momentum in the world's second largest economy continued into the final month of the second quarter, according to economists.
"We don't expect much to change in terms of softer data being expected out of China," wrote Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank in a note on Monday.
"For one, inflation will probably remain benign. Trade data will probably be lackluster as the clamp-down on false invoicing bites; but base effects will be less unfavorable providing measured relief," he added, referring to the government's crackdown on export firms overstating their businesses to bring funds into the country and surpass capital restrictions.
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China's consumer price index (CPI) is expected to pick up modestly to 2.5 percent in June, according to a poll by Reuters, from 2.1 percent in the previous month, helped by a rise in key food items including vegetables and meat. However, such a reading would be well under the central bank's 3.5 percent target for 2013.
"Price pressures are minimal in China. Low input costs and weak demand are causing producers to cut prices to attract demand," economists at Moody's Analytics wrote.
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The producer price index (PPI), meantime, is expected to show prices at the wholesale level remained firmly in deflation, dropping 2.7 percent in June from a fall of 2.9 percent in the previous month. Producer prices in China have been declining in since February 2012, driven by the fall in raw materials and metal prices.