Stock markets in China and Japan opened the first trades of this week with a decline on negative statistics showing a slowdown in economic growth in China amid a new outbreak of coronavirus in the country. South Korean stock index does not show a clear dynamics.

Exchanges in Australia and Hong Kong are closed on Monday to celebrate the Catholic Easter.

China’s retail sales in March declined for the first time since July 2020. The figure fell 3.5 percent from the same month a year earlier, data from China’s State Statistics Office showed. In February, retail sales rose 6.7%. Experts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal on average expected a 2% decline in the figure last month.

The unemployment rate in China in March jumped to the maximum since May 2020 and amounted to 5.8%, while in the previous month it was at 5.5%. Experts noted that the indicator was negatively affected by the introduction of new lockdowns in the country and the closure of enterprises.

The growth rate of Chinese industrial production in March slowed to 5% from 7.5% in February, which is also due to new coronavirus restrictions.

China’s GDP growth accelerated to 4.8% annualized in the first quarter from 4% in the previous quarter. The pace of economic expansion also beat the consensus forecast of experts at 4.4%, Trading Economics noted.

Investment in fixed assets in the PRC in January-March increased by 9.3% year-on-year to 10.49 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion). Experts expected an increase of 8.5%. Public investment rose by 11.7% and private investment by 8.4%.

Shanghai Shanghai Composite by 8:20 Moscow time decreased by 0.77%, Japanese Nikkei – by 1.3%.

The most strongly among the components of the Shanghai index decreased shares of financial services company Orient Securities Co. Ltd. (-10%), medical Inly Media Co. Ltd. (-10%) and plastic pipe maker Shandong Donghong Pipe Industry Co. (-9.99%).

In the Japanese index among the leaders of the fall are the shares of pharmaceutical Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd. (-5.8%), mining Toho Zinc Co. Ltd. (-5.3%) and Tokai Carbon Co. Ltd. (-4%), as well as recruiting Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. (-3.9%).

Shares of automaker Toyota Motor Corp. are down 0.3%, investment firm SoftBank Group Corp. – by 1%, Asia’s largest apparel retailer Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. – by 1.6%, electronics maker Toshiba Corp. – by 1.2%.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.01% by 8:40 Moscow time.

The price of securities of electronics and memory chip maker Samsung Electronics Co. is growing by 0.6%. The capitalization of carmaker Kia Corp. rises by 1.7%, Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd. – by 0.6%.