German growth accelerated in the second quarter of 2015 but by less than expected, with foreign trade acting as a support and investment braking Europe’s largest economy.

German gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.4 per cent in the quarter between April and June after expanding by 0.3 per cent in the first three months of 2015.

The consensus forecast for the second quarter in a Reuters poll was for 0.5 per cent growth.

“Growth is not rapid at the moment, but it has a solid basis,” said Holger Sandte at Nordea.

“The biggest weakness is in companies’ investments, and that is likely to remain the case as a good outlook for sales is apparently lacking.”

The mood among analysts and investors in Germany worsened in August due to concerns about the effect of an unstable global economic backdrop on the country’s export-dependent economy.

Some economists took confidence, however, from Yesterday’s GDP figures showing that neither a slowdown in China nor the crisis in Greece slowed the German economy in the second quarter.

The solid German expansion contrasted with a stagnation in the French economy in the second quarter.

“Neither the Chinese growth slowdown nor the events in Greece threw German companies off track,” said Andreas Rees at UniCredit. “Furthermore, overall domestic demand remained solid despite the weather-related decline in the construction sector.”

The Statistics Office said exports rose much more strongly than imports in the second quarter, supported by the weak euro. However, it said there was a marked drop in inventories and weakness in investment.

Unadjusted data showed the economy expanded by 1.6 per cent on the year in the second quarter, surpassing the Reuters consensus forecast for 1.5 per cent growth. The uncertain global outlook is holding back German firms.