Asian shares rose Wednesday on optimism that China’s latest actions may help curtail some of the expected economic damage from the virus outbreak.
Asian Shares
- The Shanghai composite up 1.25% to around 2,818.09.
- The Shenzhen component index rose 2.14% to 10,305.50.
- The Shenzhen composite added 2.48% to about 1,678.63.
- The Chinext start-up board was up more than 3% to around 2,180.29.
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.02% to 23,319.56.
- The Topix index added 1.04% to 1,701.83.
- In South Korea, the Kospi index erased some of its near 1% gains to trade up 0.36% at 2,165.63.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gave up most of its gains of around 0.83% earlier to trade up 0.27%.
Currency Markets
- In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded at 98.004 against a basket of peers, climbing from a low of 97.787 in the previous session
- The Australian dollar was flat around $0.6738.
Oil Prices
Oil prices advanced during Asian hours on Wednesday.
- U.S. crude was up 0.87% at $50.04 a barrel
- Brent advanced 0.96% to $54.48.
OPEC and its allies could cut production by more than a million barrels a day, according to some experts. The producer group is said to likely bring forward a planned policy meeting from March to February, which would underscore the serious worries over a double-digital collapse in the price of oil this year.
For the year, U.S. crude is down more than 19% while Brent is lower by 18%, and there are worries that the coronavirus outbreak will significantly curb demand. Moody’s Analytics said in a note that at current prices, “commodity producers will soon begin to cut back on production and investment.”
