Shanghai Composite down 0.55% at 3,015 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Shanghai , 17 Jun - Chinese stocks closed slightly lower in choppy trade amid weak Asian markets.

Caution prevailed as investors digested mixed economic data from China that underscored the country's bumpy recovery.

Helping support sentiment, retail sales rose 3.7% in May, topping forecasts of a 3% rise from a Reuters poll of economists.

However, industrial output and fixed-asset investment both came in lower than expected.

Industrial output grew by 5.6% year-on-year, lower than the 6% increase expected, while fixed asset investment rose 4% compared to last May, lower than the 4.2% forecast by the Reuters poll.

Other data showed that China's home prices fell at the fastest pace in a decade in May, underscoring continued strains in the country's property sector.

Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China held its medium term lending facility rate unchanged at 2.5% on 182 billion yuan worth of loans, as expected, dashing some speculation of a cut following surprisingly soft bank lending data.

The central bank also injected 4 billion yuan through seven-day reverse repurchase operations and kept the seven day interest rate steady at 1.8%.

In mainland stock market dealings real estate shares were among the biggest decliners.

The Shanghai Composite closed down 0.55% at 3,015 points, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 closed down 0.15% at 3,536 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 17-06-24 11:12:10 (0170) 5 NNNN