Asian markets mixed as China reports encouraging Q3 GDP data

While Asian stock markets traded mixed on Wednesday (19 October), the Shanghai Composite was down 0.10% at 3,080.74 as of 6.54am GMT, despite China reporting third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) in line with expectations.

China said its GDP expanded 6.7% year-on-year in the July to August period. This was as per analyst expectations and also matched the growth rate witnessed in the previous two quarters.

While these figures were within Beijing's growth target of 6.5% to 7% for the calendar year, China's National Bureau of Statistics said the world's second largest economy had performed "better than expected" in 2016, despite a slowdown in exports. This reduced investor concerns over the health of China's economy.

China's statistics agency also reported other data such as retail sales and urban investment, which were positive. While the former grew 10.7% on-year in September, the latter saw an 8.2% increase. China reported that it had also seen good growth in both government spending and the property market. On the downside, China's industrial production grew just 6.1% on-year in September, below analyst expectations of 6.4%.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, was cited by Reuters as commenting: "The upshot from today's data is that economic activity seems to be holding up reasonably well, with few signs that a renewed slowdown is just around the corner.

"Nonetheless, the recent recovery is ultimately on borrowed time given that it has been driven in large part by faster credit growth and a property market boom, both of which policymakers are now working to rein in."

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 7.09am GMT:

Overnight (18 October), the FTSE 100 closed 0.76% higher at 7,000.06, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 0.42% at 18,161.94

Among commodities, oil prices gained amid data that showed a decline in US crude inventory. While WTI crude oil was trading higher by 1.15% at $50.87 (£41.44) a barrel, Brent crude was trading 1.12% higher at $52.26 a barrel as of 7.14am GMT.