China Stocks Weaken After Economic Data Disappoints

0235 GMT — Chinese shares are lower in morning trade, weakening after Beijing released a host of key economic data for April, including retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment. All three releases missed expectations of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. The Shanghai Composite Index is off 0.1% at 3308.25, the Shenzhen Composite Index is down 0.4% and the ChiNext Price Index is 0.1% lower. Sealand Securities analysts caution that the market is likely to continue facing uncertainties and volatility in the near term, as investors try to gauge the pace of China’s macroeconomic recovery. The brokerage advises investors to “monitor more” from the sidelines. (yifan.wang@wsj.com)