Most Asian stock markets trade higher following China's GDP report

While most Asian stock market indices were trading higher on Friday (15 July), the Shanghai Composite Index was marginally lower by 0.02% at 3,053.48 as of 6.31am GMT in the wake of China reporting a 6.7% on-year increase in Gross domestic product (GDP) for the April to June period.

China's economic growth in the second quarter comes amid its government's massive stimulus programme which boosted demand in the industrial sector. It surpassed analyst expectations of 6.6% but fell in line within Beijing's growth target of 6.5% to 7% for 2016.

"The data showed the signs of stabilisation, which is very encouraging. However, public sector investment and housing market are slowing down. So the challenges still loom quite large in the second half of the year," Julian Wang, economist for Greater China at HSBC, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Overall for the week, most Asian stock market indices had gained, with the Japanese Nikkei leading the pack. "It has been 'risk on' again over the last week in investment markets, helped by a combination of good economic data in the US and China, good US earnings news and firming expectations of more policy stimulus in Japan," Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital, was quoted as saying by CNBC.

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 15 July at 6.44am GMT:

Overnight (14 July), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,506.41, up 0.73%, while the FTSE 100 closed at 6,654.47, down 0.24%

Among commodities, oil prices were in the red. While WTI crude oil was trading lower by 1.09% at $45.18 (£33.70, €40.61) a barrel, Brent crude was trading 1.16% lower at $46.82 a barrel as of 6.53am GMT.