Asian shares fell on Wednesday and oil prices hit lows not seen since June after a rout in technology shares sank Wall Street for a third consecutive day and a major drugmaker paused testing of a coronavirus vaccine.
Global stock markets have recovered most of this year’s losses, but that was based largely on strong gains for tech stocks while other companies still are lower.
Asian Shares
- The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3% to 3,264.19 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.6% to 23,173.89.
- The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was little-changed at 24,478.69.
- The Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.1% to 2,402.01.
- Sydney’s ASX-S&P 500 was little-changed at 5,875.70.
- India’s Sensex opened up 1% at 38,566.11.
- New Zealand and Bangkok advanced while Singapore and Jakarta declined.
Oil Prices
- In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 16 cents to $37.89 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
- The contract rose $1.29 on Wednesday to settle at $38.05.
- Brent crude, the international standard, declined 9 cents to $40.70 per barrel in London. It added $1.01 the previous session to $40.79.
Currency Markets
- The dollar declined to 106.12 yen from Wednesday’s 106.18.
- The euro gained to $1.1825 from $1.1823.
