(Yicai Global) May 12 -- Chinese stock markets closed out the morning in a downturn as the consumer price index and producer price index released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics came in at weaker than expected.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.59 percent lower at 2,877.71 at the lunch break, while the Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.56 percent to 10,908.08. The ChiNext Price Index, which that tracks growth enterprises listed in Shenzhen, dropped 0.07 percent to 2,099.38.

China's consumer prices rose 3.3 percent last month from April last year, while the PPI dropped 3.1 percent on the year last month, the NBS announced today.

Both were lower than chief economists surveyed by Yicai Global had predicted, with their average forecast for a 2.42 percent slide in PPI and a 3.67 percent rise in CPI.

Editor: Ben Armour