China’s GDP at 9.5 % in Q2: NBS

China's economy and industrial output beat analysts' expectations pushing up stocks across Asia as the nation looks to maintain momentum after monetary tightening to cool inflation.

Gross domestic product was up 9.5 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the statistics bureau, after a 9.7 per cent gain in the previous three months.

Industrial output was up 15.1 per cent in June, the maximum since May 2010, even with the central bank boosting lending rates five times since mid-October. It had  also hiked bank reserve requirements to an all time high. Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday that price stabilisation remained the top priority, after food costs soared in June.

According to analysts, the data should dispel concerns over a hard landing in China.

The Shanghai Composite Index of shares was up 1.3 per cent before falling to 0.5 per cent the decline this year that has been driven by concern that monetary tightening would smother growth. Yuan forwards strengthened even as Asian stocks gained.

According to the International Monetary Fund's projections last month the Chinese economy would expand 9.6 per cent this year, while in the US which is seeing rising  unemployment the expansion may be 2.5 per cent, and in the euro zone, where soaring bond yields are pointing to a sovereign debt crisis spreading to Italy, the gain may be 2 per cent.