Weakening exports continued to dog the world's second-largest economy in August but imports were a surprise bright spot, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing official data.
Imports rose 1.5 percent on-year, reversing a 12.5 percent fall in July and beating Reuters' estimated 4.9 percent fall.
That brought a trade surplus of USD 52.05 billion, slightly below July's USD 52.31 billion, which was a seven-month high, and missing estimates for USD 58 billion.
The Australian dollar, considered a proxy for China's economy, edged up to USD 0.7683 against the greenback, from USD 0.7677 ahead of the data.
Mainland and Hong Kong equity markets were little changed.
Thursday's report was one of many China data points on tap this week.
On Wednesday, Beijing reported August FX reserves fell to USD 3.185 trillion, their lowest level since 2011. Meanwhile, consumer price inflation (CPI) and producer price inflation (PPI) data for August are due Friday.
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