SINGAPORE – Asia-Pacific stocks have fallen in trade as the increase in coronavirus cases in countries such as India outweighs the economic outlook and investor sentiment.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.96% while the Topix index fell 1.85%. South Korea’s Kospi dumped 1.52%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.63%. Chinese shares in the mainland rose by noon as the Shanghai compound rose 0.15%, while the Shenzhen component rose 0.293%.
Shares in Australia also declined as the S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.7%. Retail sales in Australia rose 1.4% in February, according to preliminary data released by the Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. That was higher than expectations in a 1% Reuters poll.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities outside Japan fell 1.06%.
Reopening plays as airlines fell in Wednesday’s trading, with shares of Qantas Airways in Australia falling 1.7%, while Japan Airlines and ANA Holdings in Japan fell 0.14% and 1.45% respectively . In Hong Kong, the shares of China Eastern Airlines fell by 2.2% and Cathay Pacific by 1.97%. The share of Singapore Airlines also shook off 1.57%.
The losses come after their counterparts tumble on the outside overnight. Shares of United Airlines fell more than 8% after the company reported a fifth consecutive quarterly loss. CEO Scott Kirby said it was still unclear when international and business travel would recover.
Markets in India closed for a holiday on Wednesday. The coronavirus situation in the country remains dire, with 259,170 new daily infections registered on Tuesday. The World Health Organization warned on Friday that Covid’s global infection rate is nearing its highest level ever.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 256.33 points to 33,8211.30, while the S&P 500 fell 0.68% to 4,134.94. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 0.92% to 13,786.27.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which follows the greenback against its peers, was at 91,245 after falling above 91.6 earlier this week.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.09 per dollar, still stronger than levels above 109.2 against the dollar seen last week. The Australian dollar changed from $ 0.7709, below levels above $ 0.777 yesterday.
Oil prices declined in the afternoon of trading hours in Asia, beating the international benchmark for Brent crude futures by 0.71% to $ 66.10 a barrel. U.S. crude futures fell 0.81% to $ 62.16 a barrel.