BEIJING — Retail sales grew by 5.4% in August from a year ago, the fastest since the January-February period this year, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics. August retail sales topped a Reuters forecast for 3.5% growth.

Among the overall encouraging data, retail sales posted the biggest surprise, boosted by passenger car sales and helped by comparison to low growth last August, pointed out Hao Zhou, chief economist at Guotai Junan International. Retail sales had risen by 2.5% year-on-year in August 2021.

This year, catering sales recovered from a Covid-induced slump to rise by 8.4% in August from a year ago, while autos and food sales also grew significantly. That helped retail sales for the year through August grow by 0.5% from a year ago.

Cosmetics and home furniture were among the few categories showing a sales decline in August from a year ago.

Online sales of physical goods rose by 12.8% in August from a year ago, faster than the 10.1% growth in July, according to CNBC calculations of official data.

Industrial production rose by 4.2% in August from a year earlier, beating the 3.8% increase estimated in a Reuters poll of analysts. Despite a year-on-year decline in major categories such as cement and steel, autos again proved to be a bright spot, with passenger car production surging by 33%.

Fixed asset investment for the first eight months of the year rose by 5.8%, above the 5.5% increase forecast by Reuters. Investment in manufacturing grew the most, up by 10% from the year-ago period. Infrastructure investment grew faster pace than in July, on a year-to-date basis.

Real estate investment for the year declined further as of August, down by 6.4% from the year-ago period versus a 6.4% decline reported for the year as of July.

Source: CNBC, National Bureau of Statistics