China maintained stable growth in Q2: UBS

BEIJING - The upcoming release of official Chinese economic indicators will show the country maintained stable growth in the second quarter of 2016, UBS predicted in a report on Monday.

The Swiss bank put China's Q2 growth at 6.7 percent year on year, flat with the first quarter.

"Property sales may have moderated further and industrial production growth stabilized. Infrastructure investment likely stayed strong to offset downward pressures from still-weak private investment," it said.

The forecast came less than two weeks ahead of the official release of data including GDP, industrial output, fixed-asset investment (FAT) and retail sales for the past quarter.

UBS believes Q2 will mark a peak of growth momentum in the ongoing mini-cycle, and it forecast moderation during the remainder of 2016.

But it said it expects the government to intensify policy support if necessary to ensure the country meets a full-year growth target of 6.5 percent to 7 percent.

As for June's data, UBS forecast rising FAT, milder consumer price growth, narrowed industrial deflation and falling export growth. New total social financing probably picked up from May, and foreign exchange reserves dropped, it said.