Asian Stocks Dip Lower Following Concerning China Report, Oil Falls Ahead Of Doha Meeting

Asian stocks closed flat to slightly lower on Friday after data from China's government showed the economy grew 6.7 percent on-year in the first quarter. The government's figure was in-line with expectations, but marking a decrease from the 6.8 percent growth seen in the prior quarter.

China's Shanghai index lost 0.14 percent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.10 percent and Taiwan's TSEC index gained 0.38 percent.

Australia's ASX 200 index gained 0.76.

Japan's Nikkei index was lower by 0.37 percent and saw its 3 day winning streak coming to an end. The index has now gained 6.4 percent for the week.

With more than 4 hours remaining in the European trading session, the broad index, Euro Stoxx 50, was lower by 0.36 percent.

Germany's DAX index was lower by 0.58 percent, France's CAC index was lower by 0.54 percent and the UK's FTSE index shed 0.39 percent.

Light Sweet Crude oil futures were trading in positive territory during Asian hours but lost more than 1.50 percent and were trading at $40.80 a barrel by 7 a.m. ET Friday. Naturally, this weekend's meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers to discuss a potential freeze of production levels is keeping commodity investors on edge.

Gold futures were trading higher by 0.23 percent.