06:46 AM EDT, 05/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets drifted lower Monday following tempered economic reports from Beijing, and as foreign-exchange rates pressured the US dollar.

Hong Kong and Tokyo finished in the red, while Shanghai was flat. Other regional exchanges also lost ground.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lowered and drifted, finishing down 0.7% as a stronger yen undercut export issues.

The US dollar fell to the sub-145 yen range, pressured by selling after ratings agency Moody's on Friday downgraded its US credit ratings.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 255.09 to 37,498.63, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 127 to 95. Semiconductor capital-equipment maker Lasertec fell 5.2%, while drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo jumped 7.1%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower, gained, but still lost 0.1% on the day after April economic reports on retail spending and factory production cooled from March.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 12.33 to 23,332.72, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 45 to 37. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.5% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 0.2%.

E-commerce colossus Alibaba declined 3.4%, while telecom service China Unicom HK added 4.2%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite finished flat at 3,367.58.

In economic news, China's retail sales in April grew 5.1% on year, cooling from a 5.9% rise in March, reported the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). China's industrial output in April grew by 6.1% on year, down from 7.7% on year in March, the data showed.

China's 70-city property prices for April continued to decline, with new home prices down 0.12% on month and existing home prices down 0.41% on-month, reported ING Think, an arm of the Dutch investment house, citing official data.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 0.9%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 1.5%; the Australian ASX 200 lost 0.6%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.6%, and the Thai Set declined 0.7%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.3%.