BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, meeting expectations and providing additional evidence that a slowdown in the world's second largest economy may be bottoming out.
Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's second-largest economy would grow 6.7 percent in the first quarter, easing from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
China's fixed-asset investment growth quickened to 10.7 percent year-on-year in the Jan-March period, beating market expectations.
Analysts polled by Reuters predicted investment growth would come in at 10.3 percent.
Industrial output growth quickened to 6.8 percent, surprising analysts who expected it to rise 5.9 percent on an annual basis after a rise of 5.4 percent in Jan-Feb.
Retail sales growth quickened to 10.5 percent.
Analysts forecast they would rise 10.4 percent on an annual basis after a rise of 10.2 percent the prior period.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Sue-Lin Wong; Writing by Pete Sweeney; Editing by Sam Holmes)