RTTNews reports that data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's consumer price inflation returned to positive territory in December after turning negative for the first time in more than a decade in November.

Consumer prices climbed 0.2 percent on a yearly basis in December, reversing a 0.5 percent fall in November. Economists had forecast prices to gain 0.1 percent.

Food prices grew 1.2 percent, in contrast to November's 2 percent decline as pork prices increased 6.5 percent from the previous month. At the same time, non-food prices remained flat.

Month-on-month, consumer prices were up 0.7 percent, which was faster than the 0.4 percent growth expected by economists.

Meanwhile, core consumer price inflation slowed marginally to 0.4 percent from 0.5 percent.

Another report from NBS showed that producer prices declined 0.4 percent year-on-year in December, but much slower than the 1.5 percent decrease seen in November and the expected fall of 0.8 percent. On a monthly basis, factory gate prices advanced 1.1 percent in December, the fastest since December 2016.