Is China getting too much of a good thing? The growing economic powerhouse showed it was still a growing economic powerhouse on Thursday with some robust economic data.

Factory output, for instance, jumped by 20.7% in January and February, with retail sales up 17.9%.

However, the trouble was inflation, which rose to 2.7% in the year to February from 1.5% in the year to January.

That brushed one of investors' sensitive spots –the prospect of China tightening its monetary policy further to cut the risk of a bust to follow its boom – with some textbook market responses. The dollar strengthened a touch, while metals, of which China is the biggest consumer, eased.

'No support for the bulls'

China is a huge importer of some farm commodities too, notably soybeans which, having been the victor of the last session, when they emerged the best from a key US Department of Agriculture crop report, weakened in early deals on Thursday.

Chicago's March contract dipped 6.5 cents to $9.45 ½ a bushel at 08:00 GMT, with the May lot down 5 cents at $9.53 a bushel.

That put soybean behind grains, which suffered from the USDA data which, for corn, revised up global corn production and US inventories.

For wheat, the report estimated US inventories at above 1bn bushels at the end of 2009-10, the biggest for 22 years.

The report, indeed, "provided virtually no support for the bulls", Jon Michalscheck at Benson Quinn Commodities said.

'Everything is bearish'

Indeed, wheat added to losses, shedding 1.5 cents to $4.80 a bushel for May delivery, while corn for the same month dipped 0.5 cents to $3.65 a bushel.

"Everything for wheat is bearish," Mike Mawdsley, at broker Market 1.

"Wheat needs to hold here and now. Contract lows are not far below."

Profit taking 

Even palm oil, one of the brighter spots on the commodities map of late, was lower, slipping 19 ringgit to 2,666 ringgit a tonne.

Thoughts of Chinese looking to slowdown its economic growth will not have helped. The country is a huge importer of the vegetable oil.

However, traders cited in the main profit taking from a bull run which took palm oil to a two-month high earlier this week, and not far from reaching its highest since May.

Prices have been given heart by a steep fall in output in Malaysia, the world's second ranked producer, as confirmed in official data on Wednesday.