BEIJING - China's retail sales of consumer goods grew 10.9 percent year on year in September, slightly higher than 10.8 percent for August, official data showed Monday.

The figure marks the highest rate of growth since the beginning of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

HSBC analyst Qu Hongbin said the pace was better than expected as consumption in some areas was boosted by holiday factors. China's traditional Mid-Autumn Festival fell in late September.

In the first three quarters, total sales rose 10.5 percent from a year earlier to 21.61 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion).

In the same period, retail sales in rural areas expanded by 11.7 percent, outpacing the rate of 10.3 percent for sales in urban areas.

Online sales surged by 36.2 percent to 2.59 trillion yuan from January to September, totaling about 12 percent in gross retail sales, the NBS said.

Qu forecast that sales of consumer goods will continue to see steady growth and contribute to a mild recovery in economic growth in the next few months.

NBS data showed that China economy grew by 6.9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace since the second quarter of 2009.