Asian stocks fall after China growth rate slows

Many Asian markets ended the day lower after data showed China's economy grew at its slowest pace for five years.

China's gross domestic product rose by 7.3% in the June to September period from a year earlier, although this beat forecasts of 7.2%.

Japan's Nikkei fell 2% to 14,804.28, a day after it had rebounded by 4%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 18.32 points to 23,088.58 but China's Shanghai Composite ended down 17.07 points at 2,339.66.

South Korea's Kopsi index closed 14.78 points lower at 1,915.28 while Australia's ASX 200 ended up 5.59 points at 5,325.03.

While the Chinese growth data was slightly better than expected, there are still worries about the slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

"The data was better than I expected, more optimistic than we thought. But we definitely cannot achieve the 7.5% growth target this year," Lin Caiyi, chief economist at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai, told Reuters.

In Tokyo, shares in Fujifilm bucked the downward trend after the company said it was increasing production of an anti-influenza drug that is being used to treat Ebola patients.

Fujifilm shares had jumped 4% at one point but they then fell back to end the day 0.2% higher at 3,398.5 yen.