Asian markets mixed as South Korea reports weak GDP data

Asian stock market indices were trading mixed on Tuesday (25 October), while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.02% at 3,128.87 as of 6.52am GMT. This followed South Korea reporting a weak gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter.

According to data from the Bank of Korea, GDP for the period grew by just 2.7% year-on-year. This was lower than the 3.3% GDP growth seen in the second quarter. This showed that South Korea's economic growth had slowed in the third quarter.

On a quarterly basis, the South Korean central bank said that GDP had grown by a seasonally adjusted 0.7%. While this is still low, it was better than a Reuters forecast of a 0.6% uptick.

"The moderation [in GDP] was broadly expected, which was presaged by the sequential slowdown in industrial production in the first two months of the quarter," Eugenia Victorino, Asia economist at ANZ was quoted as explaining by CNBC.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 7.04am GMT:

Overnight (24 October), the FTSE 100 closed 0.49% lower at 6,986.40, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 0.43% at 18,223.03.

Among commodities, oil prices were trading in the green, after slipping overnight amid renewed oversupply concerns. While WTI crude oil was trading higher by 0.24% at $50.64 (£41.42) a barrel, Brent crude was trading 0.04% higher at $51.48 a barrel as of 7.20am GMT.