China lowered mortgage lending benchmark rates on Jan. 20, after data earlier in the week pointed to a darkening outlook for the country’s troubled property sector. The cut to the one-year and five-year loan prime rates (LPR) followed surprise cuts by China’s central bank on Monday to its short- and medium-term lending rates for the first time since April 2020. December economic data showed further weakening in consumption and the property sector, both major growth drivers. At a monthly fixing on Thursday, China lowered its one-year LPR by 10 basis points to 3.70 percent from 3.80 percent. The five-year LPR was reduced by five basis points to 4.60 percent from 4.65 percent, its first cut since April 2020. Property firms’ shares and bonds jumped on Thursday following the LPR cut, as investors hoped it and other recent state measures would help to ease a funding squeeze in the sector that …