Asian Stocks fell in Thursday afternoon trade

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.

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