A slew of readings on China's economy in July came in slightly below expectations, offering further evidence of a slowdown in the mainland's economy. China's industrial production grew 6.0 percent on-year in July, compared with expectations for 6.1 percent growth, according to a Reuters poll of 39 analysts, with forecasts ranging from 6.0-6.7 percent. In June, industrial production grew 6.2 percent, according to Reuters. Retail sales and fixed asset investment also missed expectations slightly. July retail sales grew a respectable 10.2 percent on year, but that was slightly below expectations of a 10.5 percent increase in a Reuters poll. Fixed asset investment (FAI) for the January-to-July period rose 8.1 percent, missing a Reuters forecast for 8.8 percent and marking the slowest growth since 1999, according to Reuters. Private sector FAI growth just 2.1 percent on-year in the January-to-July period, down from 2.8 percent growth in the first half of the year. After the data's release, the Australian dollar dropped, falling from around $0.7697 to as low as $0.7667. Australia's economy has long been dependent on China's appetite to import its commodities.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, said the slowing investment growth was of more concern than industrial production. While he saw some signs of strength in industrial production when drilling down to hard data, such as electricity and steel output, the drop in investment growth could portend a sharper slowdown. "In the long-run, it's pretty concerning to us. The private [investors] are pretty downbeat on prospects," Evans-Pritchard said, noting that state borrowers may be crowding private investors out of affordable credit. "Policy makers will have to do more if they want to reverse this trend," he added, noting that he expects more fiscal easing as the impact of previous rounds of monetary easing appeared a "bit underwhelming." While he noted that floods in China last month, which killed as many as 150 people, may have disrupted investment, he "wasn't hopeful" it would explain all of the weakness in investment as industrial production data hadn't seen a similar impact. China's statistics bureau said on Friday that the economy remained under downward pressure amid a period of adjustment, according to Reuters. The mainland has been working to transition its economy toward domestic consumption and away from reliance on investment- and manufacturing-led growth. The agency added that the slowdown in private investment growth was related to funding and policy-implementation challenges as well as a lack of access to services, Reuters reported.

Worker at small parts manufacturing factory in China looking through microscope. The country's July industrial output grew by 6 percent on-year, slightly below market expectations. Mick Ryan | Getty Images