China's Q1 GDP rises 6.7% at slowest space since 2009; meets analysts expectations

China's economy grew 6.7% in the first quarter (Q1) from a year earlier, meeting expectations and at its slowest pace in seven years, although other indicators show the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy may be bottoming out.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to grow 6.7%, easing slightly from 6.8% in the fourth quarter (Q4) and marking the slowest rate of growth since the first quarter (Q1) of 2009, when growth tumbled to 6.2%.

China's economy grew 6.9% in 2015, its weakest rate in a quarter of a century.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect the economy will lose more momentum this year, forecasting growth will cool to 6.5% even if Beijing ramps up fiscal spending and cuts interest rates again.

However, other activity data published on Friday suggested China's economy may be steadying as a flurry of government measures begin to take effect.

China's fixed-asset investment growth quickened to 10.7% year-on-year in the January-March period, beating market expectations for 10.3%.

Industrial output growth leapt up to 6.8%, surprising analysts who expected it to rise 5.9% on an annual basis after a rise of 5.4% in January-February.

Retail sales growth quickened to 10.5%, while Chinese banks extended 1,370 billion yuan ($211.23 billion) in net new yuan loans in March, exceeding analyst expectations and the previous month's lending of 726.6 billion yuan.

March export figures released earlier this week also staged an unexpected recovery, although some economists caution that seasonal effects from last year's late Lunar New Year holiday could be a factor.

Capital outflows, a major concern at the end of 2015, also appear to have eased in recent months along with the dollar's rise.