By Georgi Kantchev 

Global stocks started the week under pressure after data showed that China's economy grew at its slowest pace in nearly three decades last year, the latest sign that the world economy is decelerating.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3% in early morning trade, dragged down by banks and utility companies. Asian markets finished mostly higher, though they trimmed gains after the Chinese data release. U.S. markets are closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The world's second-largest economy grew 6.6% in 2018, the slowest annual pace China has recorded since 1990, official data showed Monday. The economic downturn, which has been sharper than Beijing expected, deepened in the last months of 2018, with fourth-quarter growth rising 6.4% from a year earlier.

The Chinese figures come amid a bruising trade fight with the U.S. and, coupled with lackluster numbers for the American and European economies, paint a picture of a slowing global economy.

Worries about growth hit market sentiment late last year, though stocks recovered some ground early in 2019 due to some progress in the trade negotiations and reassurances by the Federal Reserve that it would adjust its pace of tightening monetary policy if the data worsens.

"A very clear theme is emerging in the background: the global economy is slowing, and is doing so from an inauspicious starting point of low inflation, high debt and limited policy ammunition," Neil Mellor, senior strategist at BNY Mellon, wrote in a note to clients.

Later in the week, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is expected to acknowledge the darkening outlook in the eurozone after the bank's policy meeting Thursday. In comments earlier this month, Mr. Draghi admitted that recent data had been weaker than expected, although he argued that the eurozone probably would avoid recession.

Investors were also looking to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's next move on Brexit after lawmakers last week soundly rejected her plan to exit from the European Union, putting the process in jeopardy ahead of a March 29 deadline to leave. Mrs. May is scheduled to detail her "Plan B" for Brexit to parliament on Monday.

The British pound was broadly stable against the U.S. dollar, recently trading down less than 0.1%.

"The U.K. Government has made no progress at all in unearthing a solution to its impasse over the agreement to leave the EU. The pound may well still have more upside on good than downside on bad news, but there isn't any good news around," Kit Juckes, strategist at Société Générale, wrote in a note to clients.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of 16 currencies, was down 0.1%.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% and Japan's Nikkei finished up 0.3%.

In commodities, Brent crude, the global oil-price benchmark, was down 0.3% while gold was down 0.1%.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 21, 2019 03:55 ET (08:55 GMT)

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