BEIJING, Nov 16: Chinese urban fixed asset investment gained pace in the first 10 months of 2007, official data showed on Friday, capping a week of strong data that has raised expectations of an interest rate hike.

Fixed asset investment -- a key measure of spending on infrastructure, plants and other major projects — rose 26.9 per cent to 8.9 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The data marked an up tick from a previously announced 26.4 per cent growth rate in the first nine months of the year, and follows Tuesday’s announcement of a 6.5 per cent spike in inflation that matched a decade high set in August. “We think the government will hike interest rates... to curb inflation,” Li Huiyong, an economist with Shenyin Wanguo Securities based in Shanghai, told AFP.