China's inflation shows slight rise in Nov (2)

Investment in fixed assets recorded annual growth of 20.7 percent.

Real estate investment showed a marked rebound, registering 16.7 percent in the first 11 months, compared with 15.4 percent for the first 10 months.

Retail sales of consumer goods grew 14.9 percent, up from 14.5 percent in October.

"Things are starting to look up," said Qu Hongbin, the chief China economist at HSBC.

Qu predicted that GDP growth will reach 8.6 percent year-on-year in 2013, even though global demand will probably remain sluggish.

But it is likely that the government will keep its GDP growth target of 7.5 percent at the Central Economic Work Conference, the annual high-level strategic planning session for the economy scheduled for mid-December, Qu said.

Lu Ting, chief economist of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Greater China division, forecast that GDP growth in the fourth quarter will be 7.8 percent.

"Growth is expected to rise to 8.3 percent in the first six months of 2013," Lu said, while it may be "slightly slower" in the second half.

Food prices, which account for about 30 percent of the CPI, went up 3 percent year-on-year, with vegetable prices jumping 11.3 percent.

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