Japan, Hong Kong drop more than 2% each as Asia-Pacific markets slip amid renewed Covid fears
Shares in Asia-Pacific slipped in Friday trade, with Japanese stocks leading losses regionally as fears of a new Covid variant weighed on investor sentiment.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 2.53% to close at 28,751.62 while the Topix index fell 2.01% to 1,984.98. Shares of SoftBank Group plummeted 5.19% following a Bloomberg report that Chinese regulators have asked Didi, which the Japanese conglomerate holds a sizable stake in, to delist from the U.S.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also saw sharp losses, falling 2.2% in afternoon trade. The variant has been detected in Hong Kong, according to South Africa’s Minister of Health Joe Phaahla.
In mainland China, the Shanghai composite declined 0.42% while the Shenzhen component slipped 0.209%.
South Korea’s Kospi dipped 1.42%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 1.73% on the day to 7,279.30. Australia’s retail sales in October jumped 4.9% month-on-month, seasonally adjusted, according to official estimates released Friday. That was far higher than the 2.5% increase predicted in a Reuters poll.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1.88%.
Reference: CNBC
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