(Yicai Global) April 11  --  China's mainland stock markets were under heavy selling pressure  this morning, as newly released official data showed that inflation is  raising its head.

The Shanghai Composite  Index dropped 1.4 percent to 3,197.89 points by lunch break. The  Shenzhen  Component Index fell 2.2 percent to 10,209.62. The ChiNext  Index, which tracks growth enterprises in Shenzhen, declined 1.8 percent  to 1,695.93.

China's consumer price index increased 2.3 percent in March from a year ago, the biggest gain for the index since last October, but still within economists' range of expectations. For the first three months of 2019, the CPI was up 1.8 percent.

The producer price index, which measures manufacturers' output pricing, also accelerated its ascend to 0.4 percent, compared with February's 0.1 percent gain.

In the first quarter, the PPI rose 0.2 percent from a year ago, the NBS data also show.

Although the CPI and PPI data falls within economists' expectations, it made investors cautious as rising inflation could cause regulators to withhold from implementing more accommodating fiscal and monetary policies.

China aims to keep the CPI at around 3 percent in 2019, according to a governmental report released last month.

Editor: Emmi Laine