TOKYO: Asian shares fell on Wednesday on mixed data from China and growing concern about the ability of easier monetary policies to stimulate growth.
The Shanghai Composite fell 1.11%, while the Hang Send index eased 0.13%. The S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.82% on a downbeat consumer sentiment survey and the Nikkei 225 was off 0.03% at the break.
China’s first quarter GDP rose 7.0% year-on-year, matching expectations, while industrial output gained 5.6%, below the 6.9% seen and retail sales increased 10.2%, lower than 10.9% expected and fixed assets investment gained 13.5%, less than the 13.8% seen.
The figures follow disappointing Chinese trade data on Monday. Last month, exports in China declined by 15% on a year-over-year basis, one month after rising by nearly 50%. Chinese imports for March also fell by 12.7%, after declining by 20.5% in February.
