China’s economic growth accelerated for the first time in three quarters, as Premier Li Keqiang spurred factory output and investment to meet the government’s expansion goal for 2013.

Gross domestic product rose 7.8 percent in the July-September period from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday in Beijing, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Industrial production advanced in September by 10.2 percent, in line with projections, while retail sales gained 13.3 percent.

The pickup reflects Li’s implementation of what Bank of America Corp. called a “mini fiscal stimulus,” including railway spending and tax cuts, to support the world’s second-largest economy. Friday’s figures also showed home sales jumped 34 percent in September from the previous month even amid restrictions aimed at preventing a bubble, adding to signs of imbalances that may cast doubt on the recovery’s staying power.

“There’s no question China can achieve this year’s growth target of 7.5 percent,” said Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong. Even so, the “recovery momentum is not likely to last long,” he said, citing relatively weak emerging markets, the yuan’s appreciation and a cooling in manufacturing investment.

“We expect the fourth quarter will continue to be quite decent growth but moderate a little bit,” Zhu said.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stocks rose 0.3 percent at 4:10 p.m. in Tokyo, while the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.2 percent, the first gain in four days. The yuan, which pared gains against the dollar after the report, touched a 20-year-high earlier Friday, risking additional pressure on the nation’s exports.

China’s rebound is a bright spot in a world economy that has been buffeted by a possible tapering of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus and an impasse that saw American lawmakers push the nation to the brink of default. The International Monetary Fund earlier this month cut its global forecast as capital outflows further weaken emerging markets.

Growth estimates from 48 economists ranged from 7.4 percent to 8.2 percent, after the second quarter’s 7.5 percent pace. GDP was up 2.2 percent from the previous quarter, compared with the 2.1 percent median projection of 14 analysts, and expanded 7.7 percent in the first nine months of the year.

Li Keqiang said last week that growth in the first nine months exceeded 7.5 percent. He said this week that China’s recovery will continue and the nation is able to meet this year’s targets, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. 

(Bloomberg)