China’s gross domestic product, or GDP, grew 7.8 percent annually in the third quarter, in line with expectations, and up from the second quarter’s 7.5 percent growth, China’s National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, said Friday, indicating that economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy is stabilizing.

China’s GDP for the September-ended quarter grew by 2.2 percent, compared to 1.7 percent growth recorded in the second quarter of the fiscal year. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected GDP to record a growth of 1.9 percent. China’s economy, which grew at 7.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2013 had slipped marginally in the second quarter only to recover in the third quarter.

China’s industrial production in September rose 10.2 percent, year-on-year, beating expectations, but slightly lower than the rate of increase in August. Industrial output in September was higher than a consensus figure of 9.9 percent but below August’s industrial output growth of 10.4 percent, data released by NBS showed.

China’s urban investment to date in 2013 -- which refers to the total amount spent on construction and purchase of fixed assets -- grew by 20.2 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2012, and marginally below analysts’ expectations for the reading to remain unchanged at August’s figure of 20.3 percent.

However, the country’s retail sales rose at a slightly slower rate than expected at 13.3 percent in September on a yearly basis. The reading was slightly lower than the consensus figure of 13.5 percent and August’s retail sales figure of 13.4 percent.

China