China industrial output growth down to 5.9% on-year in December

China's industrial production, which measures output at factories, workshops and mines in the world's second-largest economy, rose 5.9 percent year-on-year in December, the government said Tuesday.

Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, increased 11.1 percent in the same month, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 10.0 percent on-year for the whole of 2015.

Results fell short of economists' expectations, according to a survey by Bloomberg News, which predicted a year-on-year increase in retail sales of 11.3 percent, while industrial production was projected to expand 6.0 percent.