China’s economy grew an annual 7.0 percent in the second quarter, steady with the previous quarter and slightly better than analyst forecasts, though further stimulus is still expected after the quarter ended with a stock market crash.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s second-largest economy would grow 6.9 percent in April-June from a year earlier, compared with 7.0 percent in the March quarter.

Quarter-on-quarter GDP quickened to 1.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said at a press conference on July 15, compared with an upwardly revised 1.4 percent in the March quarter.

Fixed-asset investment rose an annual 11.4 percent in the first six months of 2015, the bureau said, beating the poll forecast of 11.2 percent growth.

Industrial output growth quickened to 6.8 percent, surprising analysts who expected it to rise 6 percent on an annual basis after a rise of 6.1 percent the prior month.

-- Reuters on July 15