SINGAPORE – Shares in the Asia-Pacific were largely lower in trading on Wednesday as concerns about the world’s recovery from the pandemic outweighed investor sentiment.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was one of the biggest losers among the main markets in the region, as it fell by 1.9% by noon.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.83% in afternoon trading while the Topix index fell 1.86%.
Chinese shares in the mainland also rose lower, with the composition of Shanghai down 1.22%, while the Shenzhen component fell 1.354%.
Overall in South Korea, the Kospi slipped by 0.39%.
Shares in Australia outperformed the overall trend as the S & P / ASX 200 rose 0.49%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 1.1%.
Many regions worldwide are seeing an increase in new Covid-19 cases as many infectious variants continue to spread, the World Health Organization said earlier this week. In Europe, authorities are still struggling with the virus as the region battles a third Covid wave.
Stocks on the move
In corporate development, Tencent shares in Hong Kong fell 1.11% in the city on Wednesday afternoon. Reuters reports, referring to people with direct knowledge, that the firm’s founder met with China’s antitrust officials this month to discuss compliance with his group. The Chinese internet cattle will announce its fourth quarter and annual results on Wednesday.
Shares of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group in Hong Kong fell 4.83%. The move came after Hong Kong and Macao announced they would discontinue BioNTech Covid vaccinations. Fosun Pharma is BioNTech’s partner in the development and distribution of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine in China.
In Taiwan, shares of manufacturing company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company declined by more than 2% in Wednesday afternoon trading. This comes after Intel announced that it will spend $ 20 billion to build two new chip factories in Arizona.
Meanwhile, Chinese streaming company Bilibili announced on Tuesday that it will raise 20.2 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 2.6 billion dollars) in its upcoming secondary listing in Hong Kong after pricing its shares at 808 Hong Kong dollars each. Shares in Bilibili are expected to start trading in Hong Kong on Monday.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which follows the rate behind a basket of its peers, was at 92,364 after rising levels below 91.8 earlier this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.51 per dollar, compared to levels around 108.9 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands from $ 0.7604 after falling from above $ 0.768 yesterday.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon trading hours in Asia, beating the international benchmark for Brent crude futures by 0.21% to $ 60.92 a barrel. U.S. crude futures rose 0.23% to $ 57.89 a barrel.