China's producer price index ends decline streak in September

China's producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, ended a 54-month straight decline in September.

The reading increased 0.1 percent year on year, the first uptick since March 2012, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

On a month-to-month basis, PPI increased 0.5 percent amid warming prices in more industries surveyed, NBS senior statistician Yu Qiumei said.

The slight increase was closely linked to higher prices in some key industries, including ferrous metals metallurgy and coal mining, Yu said in a statement.

Prices in the coal mining industry increased 4.1 percent year on year, rising for the first time since July 2012. The ferrous metals metallurgy and rolling industry saw prices increase by 10.1 percent on the previous year.

The positive reading is also attributable to the country's capacity cut and destocking, which trimmed oversupply, and the recovering commodity prices of crude oil, iron ore and nonferrous metals in the global market, Yu said.

Factors including increasing coal and steel prices suggest PPI will continue to rise in October, with possible 0.7 percent year on year growth, said Jiang Chao, strategy analyst at Haitong Securities.

China's industrial growth, corporate profits and investment, especially private investment, are stabilizing and recovering, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.

In the third quarter, the economy not only continued the growth momentum of the first half of this year, but also featured some positive changes, the premier said, adding that China is fully capable of maintaining medium to high speed growth.

The PPI figures were released alongside the consumer price index, which rose 1.9 percent year on year in September, and 0.7 percent on a monthly basis.