Global markets gain after Chinese growth, US earnings

Global stocks were mostly up Tuesday following strong Chinese economic data and a flush of US corporate earnings reports from major scrips including Netflix.

China’s economy beat the expectations in first quarter after growing at a 6.8 percent rate better than a survey of economists and above the China’s target rate.

The figures offered reassurance to investors worried that ongoing trade tensions between China and the United States might mar business sentiment.

IMF also upped the average of growth in the global markets to 3.9 percent, but warned of fears in the markets including the ongoing Trade spat between US and China. The Fund also cautioned that "momentum is not assured" given persistent trade war fears.

In the US markets, good news helped stocks gain some momentum after the geopolitical risks emanating from Syria. Netflix, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth Group all reported better-than-expected profits.

Sentiment was also boosted by US data showing construction of apartment buildings surged in March, overwhelming a big drop in work started on single-family homes.

Among major US stock indices, the NASDAQ was the most upward-bound, surging 1.7 percent.

Paris and Frankfurt also posted solid gains, while London and Tokyo's were more modest.

The British pound reached its highest level against dollar since the Brexit referendum on the back of strengthening UK interest rate hike hopes and solid data.

Investor sentiment remained fragile, but in the absence of escalation in Syria after weekend US, British and French air strikes, markets seemed poised to continue piggy back recent losses.

Streaming company Netflix surged more than nine percent after announcing it had added 7.4 million new subscribers in the past quarter as net income grew 63 percent to $290 million.

Other large technology companies also enjoyed big advances, including Amazon, which won 4.3 percent and Google parent Alphabet, which added 3.5 percent.