Asian shares fell on Wednesday as a spike in new Chinese virus cases sent Hong Kong stocks tumbling and added to worries about the economic impact of the outbreak.
Asian Shares
- European futures rose 0.22% in early trading and U.S. stock futures were up 0.27%.
- Chinese stock futures in Singapore rebounded from two days of losses to rise 1.79%, the biggest gain in almost seven weeks.
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.41%.
- Japan’s Nikkei stock index rose 0.62%, and Australia’s main index added 0.53%, partly because investors in these markets had already had a chance to react to the outbreak, which has claimed more than 100 lives.
Currency Markets
- In currency markets, the safe-haven yen was quoted at 109.14 per dollar following a 0.2% loss on Tuesday.
- The Swiss franc, another popular safe-haven, traded at 0.9742 versus the dollar, close to its lowest in almost three weeks.
- In the offshore market, the yuan was little changed at 6.9620 per dollar but was not far off a one-month low hit earlier this week.
- Sterling edged lower to $1.3022, on course for its fifth day of declines due to worries about Britain’s trading relationship with the European Union.
Oil Markets
- U.S. crude rose 1.25% to $54.17 a barrel.
- Brent crude climbed 1.28% to $60.27.
