Chinese shares drop 0.14% at midday

BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese equities ended Thursday's morning session 0.14 percent lower led by coal and real estate stocks.

The Shanghai composite index slid 3.52 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 2,532.54, while the Shenzhen Component Index lost 31.13 points, or 0.32 percent, to 9,693.45.

Losses outnumbered gains by 426 to 374 in Shanghai and 434 to 241 in Shenzhen. Combined turnover was 150 billion yuan (21.96 billion U.S. dollars).

The National Bureau of Statistics figure showed Thursday that China's economy expanded by 6.1 percent year on year in the first quarter, the slowest in the past 10 years.