China retail sales up 10.0% on-year in October

China`s retail sales growth slowed to 10.0 percent on-year in October, government data showed Monday, missing expectations in a worrying sign for domestic demand in the world`s second-largest economy.

October`s industrial output growth matched the previous month`s figure at 6.1 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, also slightly below forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

As growth slows, Beijing is seeking to make a difficult transition away from dependence on exports and heavy industry toward consumption as the key driver of the economy, but the process is proving bumpy.

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"The national economy, under the continuing effect of a series of policies, has maintained the momentum of moderate but stable development with quality improved," the NBS said in a statement.

The policies of "cutting overcapacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening weak links" influenced the results, it added.

Total retail sales, a key measure of consumer spending, reached 3.1 trillion yuan ($45 billion) last month, it said, noting that online retail sales took an increased share of the total.

Fixed-asset investment, a gauge of infrastructure spending, rose 8.3 percent in the first ten months of the year.