Asian stocks dropped from the highest level in 20 months and commodities sank to the lowest since July after China’s economic growth unexpectedly eased in the first quarter amid lower gains in factory-output. The yen rose 0.3 percent as investors sought haven assets. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) slumped 0.8 percent at 7:19 a.m. in London posting its biggest weekly advance in seven months last week. Euro Stoxx 50 Index contracts were little changed while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.2 percent, slipping for a third straight session, and Japan’s Topix Index sank 1.3 percent. The S&P/GSCI Index of 24 commodities tumbled 1.5 percent, as oil declined 2.6 percent to $88.96 a barrel in New York. Gold for immediate delivery retreated as much as 3.9 percent to $1,425.75 an ounce. China’s gross domestic product rose 7.7 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in Beijing today. That compares with the 8 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 41 analysts and 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter. March industrial production gained less than estimated. Bank of Japan (8301) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated plans to achieve 2 percent annual inflation within two years. “China’s data are confirming the underlying concern about its economic outlook,� said Koji Toda, the chief fund manager at Resona Bank Ltd. in Tokyo, which oversees about 15 trillion yen ($153 billion). “Profit-taking is dominating the market as it seems like the yen won’t weaken beyond 100 per dollar soon.� Yen Advance The yen was at 98.09 per dollar after touching 97.55, the strongest since April 5. The currency depreciated to 99.95 per dollar on April 11, the weakest since April 2009. The euro slipped 0.3 percent to $1.3072. Japan will be reminded of its pledge not to drive down the yen when Group of 20 finance chiefs meet this week. The U.S. Treasury said it would pressure Japan to avoid “targeting its exchange rate for competitive purposes� in its semi-annual currency report to Congress released in Washington on April 12. Kuroda, who surprised markets April 4 by doubling monthly bond purchases in an effort to end deflation, said there are signs Japan’s economy is picking up as he delivered the first of two speeches scheduled for today. China’s yuan rose to a 19-year high after the central bank set a record fixing against the dollar, before paring gains. The currency gained 0.06 percent to 6.1887 per dollar, prices from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System show. It touched 6.1860 earlier, the strongest level since the government unified official and market exchange rates at the end of 1993. The currency has rallied in each of the last seven weeks, gaining 0.7 percent in the longest winning streak since November. Stocks Slide Three stocks fell for every one that gained on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. The gauge jumped 3.5 percent last week, the biggest gain since September. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 1.4 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.2 percent. India’s Sensex index erased losses of as much as 0.5 percent, and was up 0.3 percent after Bloomberg TV India reported inflation eased in March by more than economists estimated to a 40-month low. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest copper producer, plunged 5 percent in Hong Kong. Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s biggest gold producer, sank 8.7 percent, after the bullion tumbled to the lowest price in almost two years. Nissan Motor Co., a Japanese carmaker that gets 32 percent of sales from North America, slid 3.3 percent, pacing declines among exporters. The New Zealand and Australian dollars dropped by the most in almost two months against the U.S. currency after the Chinese data signaled the economic recovery in their biggest trading partner has lost momentum. ’Death Bells’ WTI crude fell to the lowest level since Dec. 26 while gold for immediate delivery was at $1,450.75. Prices of bullion fell 5 percent on April 12, taking losses to more than 20 percent since the record close in 2011, and meeting the common definition of a bear market. “Death bells ring� for commodities in 2013, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Edward L. Morse said in a report on April 12. There will be “many more losers than winners� for commodities this quarter and most industrial and precious metals will decline, according to the report. Copper for delivery in three months fell 1.1 percent to $7,323 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. Zinc dropped 1.3 percent to $1,850, while nickel retreated 1.3 percent to $15,640. The LME Index of six primary base metals tumbled 2.6 percent on April 12, the most since April 10, 2012. To contact the reporters on this story: Pratish Narayanan in Mumbai at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net; Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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