China's first-quarter industrial profits rise at slower pace

China's industrial profits posted smaller gains for the first quarter compared to the first two months, official data showed on Saturday, adding to evidence of an uneven recovery for the world's second-biggest economy. Profits at China's industrial firms rose 4.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed, slower than a 10.2% rise in the first two months. The reading complemented a slew of economic indicators for March such as retail sales and industrial output that pointed to frail domestic demand despite solid first-quarter GDP growth.