Asian Shares Sink, As China Says 1Q Growth At 4.8 Per Cent

Shares were mostly lower in Asia after China on Monday reported that its economy expanded at a 4.8 per cent annual pace in January-March. Benchmarks fell in Tokyo, Taipei and Shanghai. Seoul edged higher. Hong Kong and Sydney were closed for holidays.

Oil prices rose and US futures were lower. Wall Street benchmarks declined last week before closing for the Easter holiday. China's growth has fallen well below the official target of 5.5 per cent for 2022. In quarterly terms the economy grew 1.3 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 1.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2021. Authorities have ordered shutdowns in some major cities including Shanghai to battle the country's worst outbreaks of coronavirus since it flared into a pandemic in March 2020. But the biggest impact of the shutdowns will likely be seen in the current quarter. "Lockdowns are going to affect data for the whole of April, and maybe even longer as more cities are also adopting measures to bring COVID under control," ING Economics researchers said in a note. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.7 per cent to 3,190.48.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.2 per cent to 26,760.31 while the Kospi in Seoul edged 0.1 per cent higher to 2,699.09. India's Sensex dropped 2 per cent. Bangkok and most other regional markets declined, while Jakarta was higher. As trading resumes on Monday in many world markets, attention is focused on Ukraine, where Ukrainian fighters were holding out against a capture of their shattered city of Mariupol after a seven-week siege, ignoring a surrender-or-die ultimatum from Russia. The fall of Mariupol would be Moscow's biggest victory of the war and free up troops to take part in a potentially climactic battle for control of Ukraine's industrial east.

Ukraine was sending top officials to Washington for this week's spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank amid dire warnings about the impact of the Russian invasion on the global economy. A World Bank official on Friday said Ukraine's prime minister, finance minister and central bank governor are coming. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit had not been officially announced.

The conflict has pushed prices for oil and other commodities sharply higher, compounding difficulties for policy makers trying to nurse along recoveries from the pandemic while also tamping down inflation that is at 40-year highs in many countries. Central banks are raising interest rates that had stayed at record low levels to counter the devastation of the pandemic to help rein in price increases. But that can also discourage a revival in spending and investment needed to drive recoveries. "This morning another rise in oil prices is likely to fuel inflation fears, and rate hike jitters around the meaningful Fed action required to snuff those fears out," Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

US benchmark crude oil gained 92 cents to USD107.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose USD2.70 to USD106.95 per barrel on Thursday, before closing for Good Friday. Brent crude, the basis for pricing international oils rose 99 cents to USD112.69 per barrel. In currency trading, the dollar rose to 126.65 Japanese yen from 126.44 yen late on Friday. The euro fell to USD1.0792 from USD1.0807.

(PTI)