Retail sales in China rose 4.3 percent year-on-year in October, according the the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. Though this beat the previous month’s rise of 3.3 percent, analysts had been hoping for more of a bump in a month that included the nine-day national 'Golden Week’ public holiday period.

Though domestic tourism did see a considerable rebound over the holiday period, it was still below last year’s levels.

National Statistics Bureau spokesman, Fu Linghui, told reporters in Beijing this morning that China’s fourth-quarter economic growth will accelerate from the third quarter. China’s economy grew 4.9 percent in the third-quarter from a year earlier, but annual growth could slow to just over 2 percent for 2020.

In other Asian economic data released today, Japan’s economy grew at the fastest pace on record in the third quarter, as improved exports and consumption helped the country emerge from the depths of its pandemic-induced economic slump.

The world’s third-largest economy expanded an annualised 21.4 percent in July-September, beating a median market forecast for an 18.9 percent gain and marking the first increase in four quarters, government data showed.

This followed a 28.8 percent plunge in the second quarter, when consumption took a hit from lock-down measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Analysts are portraying the sharp rebound as a one-off from the depths of recession, and cautioned any further bounce back will be moderate as a resurgence in infections at home and abroad makes the future outlook murkier.