China growth beats forecasts at 7 pct as activity picks up

By Kevin Yao and Pete Sweeney BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy grew an annual 7 percent in the second quarter, steady with the previous quarter and slightly better than analysts' forecasts, though further stimulus is still expected after the quarter ended with a stock market crash. Slowing growth in trade, investment and domestic demand has been compounded by a cooling property sector, deflationary pressure, and most recently a stock market crash, so the recent sequence of data rele