Stocks in Asia dropped in Friday morning trade as volatility continues to grip the markets amid investor concerns over the global coronavirus outbreak.
Japanese stocks led losses as the Nikkei 225 dropped 3.17%, with shares of index heavyweight and conglomerate Softbank Group plunging 4.73%, as the Topix index fell 3.18%. The Japanese yen, often seen as a safe-haven currency in times of economic uncertainty, traded at 105.92 after strengthening from lows above 108 earlier this week.
South Korea's Kospi also shed 2.27% while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong slipped 2.18%.
Mainland Chinese stocks declined in morning trade, with the Shanghai composite down about 1% and the Shenzhen component shedding 0.83%. The Shenzhen composite also slipped 0.605%.
Stocks in Australia also fell, with the S&P/ASX 200 dropping about 2%. Australia retail turnover in January fell 0.3% month-on-month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the country's Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The ABS said it expected the outbreak to "impact aggregate retail trade estimates in coming months," though there was "no apparent impact on any of the aggregate level data" in the data release for January.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 1.73% lower.
Mizuho Bank's Vishnu Varathan wrote in a note that "there appears to be two strains of infections in the market."
"One succumbs to the sheer fear of community spread, prospects of deep economic impact from sharp drop off in demand for travel and seizures in supply-chains," said Varathan, who is head of economics and strategy at Mizuho. "The other is a strain that thrives on hopes of stimulus; be it frantic central bank rate cuts, the lull of liquidity infusions or more targeted fiscal offsets to provide pain relief."
There appears to be two strains of infections in the market.
Vishnu Varathan
Head of Economics and Strategy, Mizuho Bank
"As the two strains cross-infect one another, markets will be strained to maintain valuations, and bigger concerns about strains on global health systems and supplies mount," he said.
Shares of airlines in the region declined on Friday. Australia's Qantas Airways dropped 6.11% while Japan's ANA Holdings fell 3.24%. Over in South Korea, Korean Air Lines' stock plummeted 4.98%. Hong Kong-listed shares of China Eastern Airlines also slipped 4.08%.
The moves came after and American Airlines saw their stocks plummet more than 13% each overnight. The International Air Transport Association, an industry trade group, forecast on Thursday that airlines could lose up to $113 billion in revenue this year — the most since the financial crisis — if the coronavirus continues to spread.
More than 97,800 people globally have been infected by the virus so far, while at least 3,300 lives have been taken worldwide, according to date compiled by John Hopkins University.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 969.58 points to close at 26,121.28 while the S&P 500 fell 3.3% to end its trading day at 3,023.94. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 3.1% to close at 8,738.60.
Stocks stateside fell sharply as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to an all-time low below 0.9%. The 10-year Treasury yield was last at 0.8451%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 96.546 after declining from levels above 97.3 yesterday.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6584 after declining from levels above $0.663 yesterday.
— CNBC's Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
"asian" - Google News
March 06, 2020 at 06:49AM
https://ift.tt/2wth8Ip
Japan stocks fall more than 3%, leading losses in Asia in a week of market gyrations - CNBC
"asian" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2STmru2
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment