China's economy grew 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier with a bounce that snapped seven straight quarters of slowing expansion, official data showed on Friday. The figures, announced by the National Bureau of Statistics, were slightly stronger than market expectations in the consensus Reuters poll of a 7.8 percent expansion. The fourth quarter bounce from Q3's 7.4 percent - the weakest since the first quarter of 2009 when the global financial crisis raged - left full year growth at 7.8 percent, making 2012 the weakest year of economic expansion since 1999. Other data released alongside GDP showed ... (full story)