BEIJING China's industrial output rose 3.5% in May from a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, slightly missing expectations, as faltering demand at home and abroad adds pressure on policymakers to shore up a shaky economic recovery.

May's expansion marked the slowest growth since February.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected output growth to cool to 3.6% from 5.6% in April.

Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, jumped 12.7% in May from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, slowing from the 18.4% gain in April.

Analysts had expected a 13.6% increase.

Fixed asset investment expanded 4.0% in the first five months of 2023 from the same period a year earlier, versus expectations for a 4.4% rise. It grew 4.7% in January-April.

Analysts have cautioned that China's data readings last month may be highly distorted by comparisons with a very weak performance last year, when many cities were under stringent COVID lockdowns. But a first-quarter economic rebound has clearly lost a significant amount of momentum, prompting the central bank this week to cut some key interest rates.

(Reporting by Albee Zhang, Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao; Editing by Sam Holmes)