China growth slows to 4.3% in second quarter, below forecasts

The average forecast among analysts was 4.5 percent, according to Bloomberg, and China's official growth target for the year is 4.5-5.0 percent.

For the first half of the year, quarterly growth was 4.7 percent, and compared with the first quarter, growth in the second quarter was 0.9 percent - the lowest rate of increase in more than two years.

Retail sales in June increased by 1 percent after a 0.6 percent decline in May. Industrial production in June rose by 5.3 percent year on year, while unemployment fell marginally to 5.0 percent in June from 5.1 percent in May.