Chinese Industriële productie april valt tegen

China's factory output growth was surprisingly muted in April, darkening the outlook for the Chinese economic recovery and feeding expectations that the government may take policy action to support activity. Annual industrial output grew 9.3 percent in April, up from a seven-month low of 8.9 percent hit in March but still missing market expectations for a 9.5 percent expansion, data showed on Monday.

"Economic activity is weaker than expected. This could reinforce the case for the central bank to cut interest rates," said Zhou Hao, an economist from ANZ Bank in Shanghai. Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of China's economy, also missed market forecasts, growing 20.6 percent in the first four months of 2013 compared with the same period a year ago. Economists had expected growth of 21 percent.