HSBC, however, played down fears that world's prime growth engine, poised to (overtake) Japan this year as the second largest economy, might be sputtering.
"We still expect the economy to grow by around 9 percent in the second half of 2010 and 2011, driven by resilient (private) consumption and continued investment demands of ongoing infrastructure and new public (housing) construction projects," HSBC economists Qu Hongbin and Sun Junwei said in a note.