Asia markets rise, China growth beats forecasts
Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday after China released data showing its economy grew a little faster than expected, while speculation swirled that the European Central Bank would embark on a huge stimulus programme.
The euro retreated against the dollar after a minor rally on Monday as traders also nervously awaited an close weekend election in Greece, where a far-left anti-austerity party is leading the polls.
Tokyo shares jumped 2.07 percent, or 352.01 points, to 17,366.30 and Seoul closed 0.82 percent higher, adding 15.69 points to 1,918.31. In late trade Shanghai had rallied 1.00 percent, a day after slumping 7.7 percent in response to an official crackdown on margin trading, while Hong Kong gained 0.72 percent by lunch.
Sydney was flat, edging down 1.47 points to end at 5,307.67. Beijing's statistics bureau said on Tuesday the world's second biggest economy expanded 7.4 percent in 2014.
While the figure is down from 7.7 percent the previous year and is the weakest since 1990, a year after the Tiananmen Square crackdown, it beat the median forecast of 7.3 percent in an AFP survey.
"The 2014 GDP result is better than market expectations and barely missed the target," ANZ economist Liu Li-Gang told AFP. "This result is not too bad." However, the country's National Bureau of Statistics chief Ma Jiantang told reporters that "we should also be aware that the domestic and international situations are still complicated and economic development is facing difficulties and challenges".
A soft result was widely expected as the economy was hit last year by a slowdown in manufacturing and trade as well as declining prices for real estate, which has sent a shock through the property sector.
The news provided the catalyst for pick- up in Shanghai's stocks. On Monday they suffered their heaviest fall in more than six years after regulators last week suspended three brokerages from opening new margin trading customer accounts for three months because of rule violations.