Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese stocks trading in the U.S. fell to the lowest in two months, led by commodity producers, after the world’s third-largest economy grew at the slowest pace in seven years.

PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the country’s biggest oil companies, fell about 6 percent after gross domestic product rose 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., China’s largest producer of the metal, tumbled 9.7 percent after it said profit plunged more than 50 percent because the global recession slowed demand.

“What’s going on now is not a cyclical slowdown in China, it’s a whole change in the way the economy has been run,” Richard Fairgrieve, portfolio manager at WestLB Mellon Asset Management in London, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Lower spending from U.S. consumers “will force the Chinese economy to adapt to this new environment, where they will have to get consumption going.”

The Bank of New York Mellon China ADR Index, which tracks American depositary receipts, fell 4.8 percent to 236.43, the lowest since Nov. 20. The Bank of New York’s Asian ADR Index slid 4.2 percent.

China’s economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter from the 9 percent pace in the previous three months as the global recession dragged down exports.

The nation’s leaders “will do anything” to maintain an economic expansion of about 8 percent, the government’s target for creating jobs, said Huang Yiping, Asia economist at Citigroup Inc. in Hong Kong. The economy grew 9 percent for all of 2008 after a 13 percent expansion in 2007.

Recession

“People are starting to contemplate what happens if China doesn’t grow at all,” said Allan Nichols, international equity strategist at Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. “If they’re willing to report 6.8 percent, it may have actually been lower. I’m concerned that it’s going to go lower than this.”

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted last year’s economic crisis, said China is already in a recession.

“China is in a recession regardless of what the highly massaged official numbers claim,” Roubini wrote in a note today.

Nichols said comments from President Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary that the new U.S. administration believes China is “manipulating” its currency may make China think twice about devaluing the yuan and hurt efforts to boost growth.

Timothy Geithner’s written responses to questions from Senate Finance Committee members may presage a tougher American line with the nation that is the biggest foreign investor in U.S. government debt.

“Longer-term the currency does need to appreciate, but right now we need growth wherever we can get it,” Nichols said. “We’ve got a new administration that has things to learn.”

PetroChina slid 5.8 percent to $72.70. Sinopec lost 6.6 percent to $52.41. Aluminum Corp. tumbled 9.7 percent to $10.25.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Detrixhe in New York at jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 22, 2009 16:11 EST