How Coronavirus in the West Affected Stocks in Asia

It was not a positive day for stocks across Asia-Pacific on Thursday, due to the overnight plunge of the U.S. stocks as coronavirus cases continue to rise in Europe as well as the U.S. It is worth mentioning that, the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate headlines. The number of cases in the U.S. and across Europe affected the investor sentiment in Asia-Pacific on October 29.

Interestingly, stocks in Australia led losses among the region’s major markets, as the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.61% to close at 5’960.30. 

Moreover, South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 0.79% to end its trading day at 2’326.67. People should take into account that, shares of index heavyweight Samsung Electronics fell 1.53% after the firm predicted a fourth-quarter decline in profits.  

Also, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.49% to finish its trading day at 24’586.60. Interestingly, Standard Chartered shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell 3.14%.  Standard Chartered announced a 40% year-on-year slide in profits before the taxation for the quarter that ended on September 30. This announcement had a negative impact on its shares.

Stocks in Asia and the U.S.

Let’s have a look at mainland Chinese stocks. It is worth noting that, mainland Chinese stocks bucked the overall trend regionally as they saw gains on the day. The Shanghai Composite added 0.11% to around 3’272.73. At the same time, the Shenzhen Component gained 0.983% to about 13’519.66.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.37% to close at 23’331.94. In the meantime, the Topix index dropped 0.1% to end its trading day at 1’610.93. Notably, shares of Sony jumped 6.69%. The firm raised its annual profit outlook and this decision helped to boost shares. 

The U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 943.24 points or 3.4% to close at 26’519.95, its fourth straight negative session. Moreover, the S&P 500 dropped 3.5% to end its trading day at 3’271.03. The Nasdaq Composite declined 3.7% to close at 11’004.87.

As a reminder, Tuesday was the third consecutive day, the U.S. set a record high of average daily coronavirus cases. Moreover, Germany, as well as France, announced tough new restrictions on businesses on October 28. This way the governments are trying to limit the spread of the coronavirus as the countries cope with worsening outbreaks. Investors are closely monitoring the situation in the U.S. as well as Europe. The pandemic is far from being over and it could take more than a month to improve the situation.