Investing.com - Asian stocks traded higher Monday after China delivered a second-quarter GDP report that met economists’ expectations. Japanese markets are closed today for a national holiday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.35% while the Shanghai Composite added 0.52% after official data showed China’s second-quarter GDP grew 7.5%. The country also said it will nearly double investment quotas for the qualified foreign institutional investors program to $150 billion supported market, according to Bloomberg.
The GDP reading out of the world’s second-largest economy appeared to be enough to boost markets and could be a sign that the Chinese economy does have a chance of reaching the government’s target of 7.5% GDP growth this year.
Various global banks have recently been paring estimates on China GDP growth for 2013 with some even trimming forecasts below 7%. Recently, Macquarie Group slashed its 2013 forecast for Chinese GDP growth to 6.9% from 7.5%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.39% while New Zealand’s NZSE 50 added 0.36%. Both Australia and New Zealand count China as their largest export market.
Elsewhere, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said new vehicle sales there rose 4% last month to a seasonally adjusted 97,687 in June, from 93,927 in May. The year-to-date increase is now up to 7.1%. Toyota, General Motors, Hyundai and Ford were the top-four sellers in Australia last month.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.30% after opening lower. While South Korean shares are among Asia’s worst performers this year, investors there have shown an appetite for foreign stocks, having pumped $11.8 billion into foreign stocks in the first half of 2013, an almost 25.3% increase from the year earlier period.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.43% while S&P 500 futures added 0.22%. The benchmark U.S. index hit a record closing high last Friday.