STRONG downstream demand led to increasing sales of excavators in March, data with China Construction Machinery Association showed Sunday.

    Sales of excavators in March rose 55 percent year on year as the economy gained momentum. Analysts said April is expected to follow the same pattern. For the Jan.-March period, sales soared nearly 99 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

    Excavator machinery is a barometer of new infrastructure, and its strong growth indicates that the economy could expand steadily in the first half of the year, said Shen Jianguang, chief economist with Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. (Xinhua)