Sudden slowdown for Chinese industry. In April production grew by 9,3% on an annual basis, after +11,9% in March. The data was released by the National Statistics Office. Analysts' expectations for last month were much higher, at +12%.
In the same period they are retail sales rose by 14,1%.. THE consumer prices increased by 3,4% in April against 3,6% in March. In general, prices rose by 0,1% thanks to a 0,9% drop in food prices which, however, recorded an overall surge of 7% during the year.
Mainly due to these numbers from Beijing, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Nikkei Index closed down 0,63%, below 9.000 points, ending its sixth straight week with losses, while the Topix index fell by 0,92%.
