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SHANGHAI, May 19 (Reuters) - Retail car sales in China jumped 27% in the first half of May from the same period a month earlier in early signs of recovery for the world's largest auto market, which has been battered by COVID-19 lockdowns, data showed.

April was the worst month for China's auto market since early 2020 as the country shut factories to combat fresh cases, hurting logistics and sapping demand. In the past few weeks, top cities are slowly easing curbs.

Still down 21% from a year earlier, retail sales for passenger cars for the first 15 days this month rose to 484,000 units, data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) showed on Thursday.

Sales during the period May 9 to 15 rose 26% from the same period in April to 230,000 units, CPCA said.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Tom Hogue)