Friday 21st February: Asian markets lower on concerns of virus effect on economy

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Global Markets:

  • Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.39%, Shanghai Composite up 0.33%, Hang Seng down 0.99%, ASX down 0.33%
  • Commodities : Gold at $1634.15 (+0.84%), Silver at $18.50 (+1.00%), Brent Oil at $58.71 (-1.01%), WTI Oil at $53.41 (-0.87%)
  • Rates : US 10-year yield at 1.493, UK 10-year yield at 0.577, Germany 10-year yield at -0.440

News & Data:

  • (USD) Crude Oil Inventories 0.4M vs 3.3M expected
  • (USD) Philly Fed Manufacturing Index 36.7 vs 10.1 expected
  • (GBP) Retail Sales m/m 0.90% vs 0.70% expected
  • (CNY) New Loans 3340B vs 3100B expected
  • BOJ’s Kuroda says watching with ‘grave concern’ as virus hits Asian economies
  • China: Coronavirus Has Posed Severe Challenge To China’s Trade

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are in negative territory on Friday following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street amid worries about the rising number of coronavirus infections in Beijing as well as outside China and its impact on the global economy.

More companies are issuing fresh warnings about the negative impact of the coronavirus on their earnings. China confirmed 889 new cases of the coronavirus infections as of Thursday. Meanwhile, South Korea reported 52 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, raising the total number of infections in that country to 156.

In mainland China, shares surged by the afternoon. The Shenzhen component was up 0.3% while the Shenzhen composite jumped 1%. Over in Japan, the Nikkei dropped by 0.4%, whereas the TOPIX traded flat.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 1% as shares of conglomerate Ping An Insurance shed 0.8% following the release of its earnings on Thursday for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019. Meanwhile, shares in Australia were lower, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.3% as shares of Wesfarmers dropped as much as 2%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 99.841 after seeing lows around 99.5 yesterday.

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