BEIJING, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's freight volume, an indicator of economic activity, continued to grow rapidly in October, according to official data.

Freight volume in October grew 9.5 percent year on year to stand at 4.62 billion tonnes, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said.

The pace of growth accelerated from a rise of 7 percent in the first three quarters.

Highway freight volume increased 10 percent year on year in the month, while waterway freight volume rose 6.7 percent.

China's courier sector saw 4.96 billion packages delivered in October, up 25.2 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the MOT.

In the January-October period, the country's total freight volume rose 7.3 percent year on year to 41.36 billion tonnes.

Fixed asset investment in the transport sector edged up 0.7 percent to 2.6 trillion yuan (about 377.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-October period, the ministry added.

The data came amid steady growth of China's economy, which expanded 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of the year, above the government's annual growth target of around 6.5 percent set for 2018.