Asia-Pacific stocks decline as pandemic recovery doubts weigh on sentiment
Shares in Asia-Pacific were largely lower in Wednesday trade as concerns over the world’s recovery from the pandemic weighed on investor sentiment.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 1.1% in morning trade while the Topix index declined 1.49% Over in South Korea, the Kospi slid 0.11%.
Mainland Chinese stocks also edged lower, with the Shanghai composite down 0.5% while the Shenzhen component shed 0.308%. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dipped 0.49%.
Shares in Australia bucked the overall trend regionally as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.55%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.43% lower.
Many regions globally are seeing an increase in new Covid-19 cases as highly contagious variants continue to spread, the World Health Organization said earlier this week. In Europe, authorities continue to struggle with the virus as the region battles a third Covid wave.
In corporate developments, Chinese internet behemoth Tencent is set to announce its fourth quarter and annual results on Wednesday. Shares of Tencent in Hong Kong were up more than 1% in Wednesday morning trade.
Reference: CNBC
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