Asia breathes sigh of relief over China GDP Monday 03:00 GMT. Asian equity markets breathed a small sigh of relief after data showed China's pace of economic growth last year matched that of 2012. Government data on Monday showed that gross domestic product expanded by 7.7 per cent last year, slightly better than a 7.6 per cent forecast from economists polled by Bloomberg. Louis Kuijs, RBS chief China economist, noted the role of the services sector continued to increase, in line with Beijing's efforts to shift economic growth away from debt-fuelled infrastructure investment: "Consumption momentum remained steady in the fourth quarter, supported by steady household income growth on a resilient labour market." Most bourses in the region were still down, but pared losses after the data came out. The Hang Seng index was off 0.3 per cent, versus a 0.5 per cent decline just before the data. Chinese property developer Glorious fell 25 per cent after shareholders rejected a buyout bid from billionaire founder Zhang Zhirong. The Shanghai Composite pared losses from a five-and-a-half-month low but was still down 0.2 per cent at 2,002. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.6 per cent with shares in Nintendo dropping 19 per cent at the open in Tokyo, a reaction to Friday's profits warning, before paring losses to 11 per cent later. The stock failed to trade for the first half hour of the session because of so many sell orders. Sentiment in Tokyo more broadly was damped by the yen, perceived as a haven, being on pace for a third day of gains. It was trading at Y103.9 per US dollar. Analysts at Crédit Agricole said they maintained a bearish stance on the Japanese currency but that short-term gains were possible because market participants don't see the Bank of Japan easing policy further just yet. [BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda] stressed that the economy is moving smoothly towards inflation as prices will continue to rise for the time being. Under such conditions the central bank is unlikely to become even more aggressive unless sentiment turns sour," they wrote to clients. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.4 per cent lower. The Australian dollar, which tends to move in tandem with China's growth outlook, jumped 0.3 per cent just after the China figures to US$0.88. In Taiwan, shares of struggling PC maker Acer dropped nearly 5 per cent in early trading after reporting late Friday a $274m operating loss in the fourth quarter.