Asian markets close day with losses after China's weak data

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Major stock markets in Asia closed with losses on Monday despite negative data from China, while European indices were in the negative territory after a positive week.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost 35.5 points, or 0.90%, to close at nearly 3,897 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange also decreased 453.96 points, or 1.62%, to 27,523.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, post a decline of 210.2 points, or 0.80%, to 26,181 and Singapore index declined by 0.63% or 19.97 points to 3,145 points.

Meanwhile, China's Shanghai stock exchange was up 1.05 point, or 0.05%, to 3,517 points and Indian Sensex benchmark index increased by 0.31% or 169 points to 55,603 points.

On Monday, declines came after Chinese data -- retail sales, industrial production and investment figures -- surprisingly remained below expectations.

In Europe, all major indices posted declines during the first transaction day of the week after several historical high records last week.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, dropped by 2.59 points or 0.54% to 473.24 as of 1042GMT.

London's FTSE 100 was down by 68.5 points or 0.95% to 7,150 and Germany's DAX index was down by 85.67 points or 0.54% to 15,891 points.

French CAC 40 decreased by 54.80 points or 0.79% to 6,841 point, while Italy's FTSE MIB posted a decline of 104.20 points, or 0.39%, to 26,548 points.

Spain's IBEX 35 also decreased by 45.20 points, or 0.50%, to 8,954 points.