Reuters reported that China's power generation picked up sharply to climb for a sixth month in September and crude steel output rose at its quickest pace this year as Beijing boosted investment in infrastructure, although analysts see slower growth ahead.

The fastest growth this year, official data showed that the policies have paid off, with China's annual economic growth quickening to 7.8% in July to September from 7.5% in the previous three months,

Still, analysts said the economic outlook remains murky and China's commodities consumption could slow in the fourth quarter due to seasonal factors, while Beijing may move again to engineer slower growth if it becomes concerned about an over-heated property market.

Mr Graeme Train, analyst at Macquarie Commodities Research said that "Even though the headline figures are strong, the month-on-month recent industrial output number has showed that growth momentum is slipping in recent months.”

He said that "We should see some slowdown in the fourth quarter but it won't be anything dramatic since the economy is fairly well-balanced and overall inventories are quite low."

Steel output from the world's top iron ore consumer, jumped 11% from a year ago to 65.42 million tonnes, the highest growth this year. On a daily basis, China's average daily crude steel output rose 2% to 2.181 million tonnes in September from the preceeding month and was the third-highest on record, as improved orders encouraged mills to lift production.

Looking ahead, however, steelmakers are expected to trim production modestly in the fourth quarter, since orders typically fall in winter as construction activities slow