Industrial firms see decline in profits in Jan-Feb

Profits of China's industrial firms posted their biggest fall in the post-global financial crisis era in the first two months of this year, official data showed on Wednesday.

Analysts said this a reflection of the overall weakening economy, but profit growth of those firms may gradually pick up starting from the second quarter as the country's supportive policies take effect.

Profits registered by the country's industrial firms in the January-February period fell by 14.0 percent year-on-year to hit 708.01 billion yuan ($105.4 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday. It marked the biggest slump since May 2009.