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· Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday after two sessions of sharp gains as investors tempered their optimism about the coronavirus while death tolls were still mounting across the globe.

The erratic action was mirrored in equities with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan first falling almost 1% before clawing back to be little changed.

While the number of COVID-19 hospitalisations seemed to be levelling off in New York state, deaths across the United States jumped by a record of more than 1,800.

Mainland China’s new coronavirus cases also doubled in 24 hours due to infected travellers returning from overseas.

Adding to the uncertainty were wild swings in the oil market, where prices rebounded in Asia after sliding on Tuesday, leaving traders feeling dizzy.

· Japanese shares gained on Wednesday after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ended market uncertainty by declaring a long-awaited emergency, which led investors to buy in shorted stocks of railway and department store operators.

The Nikkei share average rose 0.47% to 19,039.91 while the broader Topix gained 0.59% to 1,411.44, extending the rally into its third day.

Besides short-covering after the declaration of emergency, which will give authorities more power to press people to stay at home and businesses to close, hopes of a slowdown in the coronavirus-related deaths have also been propping up markets.

· Chinese shares pulled back on Wednesday after a doubling of new coronavirus infections in mainland China highlighted continued risks posed by the pandemic, even as Wuhan, the Chinese city at the heart of the outbreak, ended its lockdown.

The Shanghai Composite index closed 0.19% lower at 2,815.37. The index had gained more than 2% on Tuesday.

· European markets traded lower Wednesday morning as optimism over an imminent recovery from the coronavirus started to fade.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 1% in early trade, with oil and gas stocks shedding 2.7% to lead losses, while the tech sector bucked the trend to edge 0.3% higher.