Deflation, property dampens Lunar New Year cheer

Economic data released just before the country went on holidays showed China's consumer prices fell last month at the fastest pace since 2009, piling pressure on the government to support the country's stumbling economic revival. Travellers at Beijing Capital Airport in the lead-up to Lunar New Year. Bloomberg Deflation is also weighing on corporate earnings, fuelling a sharemarket meltdown that prompted President Xi Jinping last week to sack his top markets regulator to try to halt the slide. "The economic situation facing Chinese households has worsened as government support measures have failed to stabilise the economy. We think that households…