China’s economy held steady, as industrial production gathered pace in May, retail sales maintained strong growth while investment cooled with improved structure, official data showed on Monday. Value-added industrial output, one of the leading indicators for economic growth, rose 6 percent year on year in May, unchanged from April and in line with expectations. On a month-on-month basis, industrial output was up 0.45 percent in May, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In the first five months, industrial output grew 5.9 percent from one year earlier, up from 5.8 percent registered during the January-April period. NBS spokesperson Sheng Laiyun said the data suggested China’s industrial structure had continued to improve. The output of the hi-tech and equipment manufacturing industries maintained strong growth, rising 11.5 percent and 8.5 percent in May. Retail sales climbed 10 percent in May from one year […]