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Global stock markets declined on Thursday after Japanese exports plunged and Chinese trade tensions with Washington and Australia worsened.

Investors were looking ahead to Friday’s meeting of China’s legislature for details of possible new steps by Beijing to stimulate its virus-battered economy.

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London and Frankfurt opened lower. Tokyo, Shanghai and Australia declined after spending the day swinging between gains and losses.

Japan reported its exports fell 22% in April from a year earlier in their biggest decline since the 2008 crisis. Forecasters said they expect more export weakness due to slumping US and European demand.

On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was down 0.8 per cent.

Investors are optimistic about the global outlook despite mounting infection numbers in the United States, Brazil and other countries. But China's conflicts with Washington and Australia over the coronavirus, trade and Beijing's technology ambitions are adding to uncertainty.

China has blocked beef imports from four Australian suppliers in possible retaliation for Australia’s support for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has stepped up a feud over Beijing’s industrial ambitions by tightening controls on use of US technology by tech giant Huawei.

Investors are "trying to make heads or tails of the recent China trade spats with the US and Australia,” Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a report.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.9% to 6,012.38 and Frankfurt's DAX sank 1.5% to 11,053.55. The CAC 40 in France declined 1.5% to 4,430.18.

On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was down 0.8% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7%.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6% to 2,867.92 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo declined 0.2% to 20,552.31. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.5% to 24,280.03.