Asian Stock Markets Declined On The Last Trading Day of the Week

Stocks in the Asia Pacific Region are in a selling trend on the last day of the week.

Asian stock markets declined on the last trading day of the week. Stocks mostly fell in Friday's trading in the Asia Pacific Region, following economic data from China. In mainland China, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Composite Indices declined slightly. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index followed the losses on Friday. According to the data announced by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the gross domestic product in the country increased by 18.3 percent in the first three months of 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year. On the other hand, there was a 34.2 percent increase in retail sales in March, while this increase in industrial production was recorded as 14.1 percent. While the Nikkei 225 index followed a horizontal course in Japan, the Topix Index fell. However, the South Korean Kospi Index moved almost flatly negative. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.32 percent. Outside of Japan, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.28 percent. Developments in India, where the daily number of cases in the coronavirus epidemic exceeded 200 thousand, will be closely monitored by investors.