Asian Stocks fell in Thursday afternoon trade as concerns over the scale of the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on sentiment.
Asian Stocks
- The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 1.45% in afternoon trade as shares of Fanuc declined 2.74%.
- The Topix index dropped 0.96%.
- South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.28%.
- Mainland Chinese stocks edged lower in early trade, with the Shanghai composite down 0.17% while the Shenzhen composite shed 0.246%.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 0.79%.
- In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.04% as shares of major banks such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac seeing declines.
- Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.82% lower.
Oil Prices
Oil prices rose in the afternoon of Asian trading hours.
- International benchmark Brent crude futures up 1.66% to $28.15 per barrel.
- U.S crude futures also gained 0.55% to $19.98 per barrel.
Currencies
- The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.91 after seeing levels below 99.0 yesterday.
- The Japanese yen traded at 107.99 per dollar, as compared to levels above 108 seen earlier in the week.
- The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6275 after declining from levels above $0.64 yesterday.
