China's inflation accelerated to a 3-month high in April, while factory gate inflation eased on weakening commodity prices, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics cited by rttnews.

Inflation rose to 1.2 percent in April from 0.9 percent in March. Economists had forecast inflation to rise moderately to 1.1 percent.

Inflation was well below the government's target of around 3 percent for the whole year of 2017.

Non-food inflation rose to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent. At the same time, food prices declined 3.5 percent, but slower than the 4.4 percent fall seen in March.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up 0.1 percent, in contrast to a 0.3 percent fall in March. This was the first rise in three months.