Asian shares fall as China Q1 data flurry adds to concern on weak growth

Investing.com - Asian shares fell on Wednesday on mixed dat 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.

Earlier, the April Westpac-MI consumer sentiment survey for Australia dipped 3.2% to 96.2, following a 1.2% fall in March, prompting related commentary that the Reserve Bank of Australia would cut its cash rate by 25 basis points in April to a record low 2.0%.

Overnight, stocks on U.S. equities markets were mixed on Tuesday, as two prominent Wall Street banks outperformed forecasts for quarterly earnings and U.S. retail sales increased for the first time in four months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Composite index rose modestly higher to close in green territory for the fourth time in five sessions, while the NASDAQ Composite index fell slightly for the second straight day to continue its retreat from the near 5,000 level. The Dow gained 59.93 points or 0.33% to 18,036.97, while the NASDAQ fell 10.96 or 0.22% to 4,977.29.

The S&P 500 rose 3.41 points or 0.16% to 2,095.84.

Disappointing U.S. data on Tuesday sparked fresh concerns over the strength of the economy, fuelling uncertainty over the timing of a rate hike.

The U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales rose 0.9% last month, disappointing expectations for a gain of 1.0%. Retail sales fell by 0.5% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously reported fall of 0.6%.

In a separate report, the Commerce Department said that producer prices increased 0.2% last month, in line with forecasts and after falling 0.5% in February.

Year-over-year, the producer price index declined 0.8% in March, meeting expectations and following a drop of 0.6% in the preceding month.

The euro was boosted after the International Monetary Fund raised its growth forecast for the euro zone in 2015 to 1.5%, up from 1.2% previously. The fund believes that the weaker euro and the fall in oil prices will bolster growth.

The IMF left its forecast for global growth this year unchanged at 3.5%, but warned that the recovery is “moderate and uneven”.

Tension between Greece and its euro zone creditors continued to remain high on Tuesday. Hours after the Financial Times reported that Greece is formulating a plan on how to respond from a possible default on its debt, officials from Athens denied the report and shot down speculation of a new election that would effectively unseat the Syriza government.

The comments came ahead of next Monday's deadline from the euro zone working group for a list of revised Greek reform measures it deems necessary to unlock critical aid. Yields on the 2-Year Greek bonds spiked more than 20% amid the uncertainty.