Governments around the world are working hard to minimize the damage caused by coronavirus pandemic. However, coronavirus continues to dominate the headlines. It is not surprising as companies, as well as individuals, are struggling to survive due to the coronavirus crisis. Hopefully, governments will start to remove the restrictions. Nevertheless, it will take to get the global economy back on track. Importantly, investors are closely monitoring the situation as they want to learn more about the economic impact of the pandemic. Notably, stocks in the Asia Pacific were higher on June 19, as investors continued to analyze the situation regarding a recent uptick in coronavirus cases in some countries.
On Thursday, four states in the U.S. reported record spikes in the coronavirus cases. Unfortunately, Arizona, California, South Carolina, and Texas all reported the record-high-single day increased in coronavirus cases.
Based on the information provided by a Chinese health expert a recent virus outbreak in Beijing is under control. As a reminder, Beijing saw a jump in infections after more than 50 days without domestically transmitted cases.
Let’s have a look at the economic data. Australia’s Bureau of Statistics released preliminary retail trade figures on Friday. According to the data, retail turnover increased by 16.3% in May on a seasonally adjusted basis. Importantly, this is the largest seasonally adjusted rise ever published in the history of the Retail Trade survey.
Stocks in Asia
Let’s get back to the stocks. Mainland Chinese stocks strengthened their positions on Friday. The Shanghai Composite then added 0.96% to around 2,967.63 and the Shenzhen Component gained 1.51% to about 11,668.13.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.97% as of its final hour of trading.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.55% to 22,478.79. In the meantime, the Topix index finished its trading day little changed at 1,582.80.
Moreover, South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.37% 2,141.32.
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