Stocks Across Asia Fell Due to New Coronavirus Cases

Coronavirus outbreak remains one of the most important challenges for the stock markets in Asia as well as around the world. The ongoing Coronavirus outbreak is different from the SARS outbreak as the death toll already surpassed 1,000. Investors are closely monitoring the situation. This virus created pressure on the stock markets, and it will continue to affect the stocks until scientists are able to stop this virus.

On Thursday, stocks in major Asian markets declined due to the new coronavirus cases in Hubei Province. This province is struggling to deal with the outbreak. According to Chinese officials, they started to include “clinically diagnosed” cases in their tally.

On February 12, China confirmed 15,152 new cases and 254 additional cases. Thus, the country’s total death toll increased to 1,367. As of February 12, the number of people infected reached 59,804.  It is important to mention that Chinese officials changed the methodology for diagnosing coronavirus only for Hubei province.

Stocks and market sentiment

Mainland Chinese stocks experienced problems on February 13. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.71% to about 2,906.07. At the same time, the Shenzhen component declined 0.7% to 10,864.32.

The Shenzhen composite fell 0.769% to around 1,771.61.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.29% as of its final hour of trading.

Meanwhile, in Japan, stocks also fell on February 13. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.14% to close at 23,827.73. At the same time, the Topix index finished its trading day 0.34% lower at 1,713.08. Shares of SoftBank Group fell after a phenomenal result on Wednesday. On Thursday, its shares declined by 5.09%.

South Korea’s Kospi index declined by 0.24% to finish its trading day at 2,232.96. Shares of automaker Hyundai Motor fell 2.21%.

Stocks in Australia defied other markets in the Asia Pacific region. The S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.21% to 7,103.20.