Asian stocks gain early, but get sunk again by new virus jitters
In Australia and Japan bourses rise as investors have factored in outbreak in China
Tokyo — Asian shares erased earlier gains on Wednesday, swinging into negative territory as a spike in new Chinese coronavirus cases sent Hong Kong stocks tumbling and fuelled fears about the economic effect of the outbreak.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 0.52%. Hong Kong shares fell 2.8% on their first session after a two-and-a-half trading day break for Lunar New Year, led by declines in financial services, real estate, and consumer goods companies. However, Australian shares rose 0.57%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index advanced 0.4%, partly because investors in these markets have already had a chance to react to the virus outbreak, which has claimed more than 100 lives...
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