Asian markets declined in early trading Wednesday following another sharp selloff on Wall Street as the global spread of the coronavirus outbreak continued to rattle traders.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, -0.76%
sank 0.7%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
HSI, -0.68%
dipped 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -0.13%
edged up 0.3%, while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite
399106, -1.49%
fell 0.8%. South Korea’s Kospi
180721, -0.97%
retreated 1%. Stocks ticked up in Malaysia
FBMKLCI, +0.32%
, but fell in Taiwan
Y9999, -0.92%
, Singapore
STI, -1.01%
and Indonesia
JAKIDX, -1.08%
. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO, -2.31%
tumbled 2.3%.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank
9984, -0.99%
, Sony
6758, -1.53%
and Inpex
1605, -2.88%
dropped in Tokyo trading. In Hong Kong, AAC
2018, -3.51%
and Sunny Optical
2382, -3.75%
fell, along with China Mobile
941, -2.55%
. Samsung
005930, -1.90%
declined in South Korea, while Beach Energy
BPT, -4.02%
and Rio Tinto
RIO, -1.83%
fell in Australia.
“The picture is not a good one,” Jeffrey Halley, senior Asia-Pacific market analyst at Oanda, wrote in a note. “Asian stocks will continue to remain under pressure, remaining acutely vulnerable to new negative virus headlines. Europe is to some extent, still playing virus catch-up, with European stock likely to endure a harsh morning session.”
New cases continued to rise sharply in South Korea, where the first U.S. soldier tested positive for the COVID-19 illness. More than 1,100 cases have been confirmed in South Korea, with at least 11 deaths, according to the Associated Press.
China, the epicenter of the outbreak, continued to add new cases — though at a slower pace in recent days — with more than 78,000 total cases and 2,700 deaths. But concern grew about outbreaks away from Asia, from Iran to Italy to the Canary Islands.
Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it’s just a matter of time before the virus impacts the U.S. “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen — and how many people in this country will have severe illness,” she said.
U.S. stocks closed Tuesday with the Dow registering its worst two-day loss on record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, -3.15%
slid 879.44 points, 3.2%, to settle at 27,081.3, while the S&P 500
SPX, -3.03%
lost 97.68 points, 3%, to close at 3,128.21. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP, -2.77%
fell below 9,000, shedding 255.67 points, or 2.8%, to end at 8,965.61.
After settling at two-week lows Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery
CLJ20, +0.44%
rose to $50.26 per barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude, the global benchmark
BRNJ20, +0.24%
, ticked up to $55.25 a barrel.
The dollar
USDJPY, +0.12%
edged up to 99.12 Japanese yen.
Source : MTV
