Rebound in Chinese exports and imports

Fears over a potential slowdown in the Chinese economy have been eased by the release of new official data by the country's government that shows an improving situation for exports.

Imports and exports were both revealed to be up in the latest figures, indicating worries a slowdown in the nation's economic growth may have been misplaced.

Exports were announced to be up by almost one per cent from a year earlier, while there was a 0.8 per cent increase in the January to March period in 2014. This sparked fears from some investors that there could be a slowdown in Chinese economic growth, with these concerns having a knock-on impact on the state of global markets.

"The external demand side is not such a big problem for China now, because the genuine recovery is there," said Wei Yao, China economist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong. She added: "This is actually offering some support to China's growth."

Concerns the Chinese economy may be heading for a period of reduced growth were perhaps out of line as the country traditionally sees imports and exports cut around the time of the Lunar New Year, as many factories shut down for an extended period.

Stimulus

The Chinese government responded by announcing a new range of measures designed to stimulate growth in the country's economy and these appear to have been a success following the release of the latest figures for imports and exports in April.

A tax break for small and medium-sized companies was revealed by the Chinese government last month, which also stated that it will be increasing the amount of money that it spends on Chinese railway infrastructure.

Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba made headlines earlier this week when it announced details of a long-awaited share sale, which is expected to take place in the US by the end of the year. The company is expecting to make in excess of a billion dollars as a result of its initial public offering, which will be one of the technology industry's largest ever.

Learn about the Asian markets and CFD trading at City Index