Ordinaries in Asia were lower in Monday afternoon trade as investors weighed the potential impact of recent spikes in coronavirus occasions.
In Japan, Nikkei 225 slipped 1.28% while the Topix index shed 0.66%. Over in South Korea, the Kospi doused 0.72%.
Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite little changed while the Shenzhen component summed 0.85%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.62%.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.8%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan table of contents shed 0.72%.
Developments surrounding the coronavirus pandemic likely continued to be watched by investors on Monday.
A district in the Chinese ripsnorting of Beijing was in a “wartime emergency” after a cluster of infections was found centered around a wholesale market, according to Reuters. Stateside, Texas and North Carolina also articled a record number of virus-related hospitalizations on Saturday.
“News over the weekend have done little to ease affairs over the risk of a new round containment measures,” Rodrigo Catril, senior foreign exchange strategist at National Australia Bank, created in a note.
“As economies reopen, an increase in infection rates is to be expected, the question is whether detecting measures will be effective enough to allow for localised containment measures without having to shut the whole economy again,” Catril said.
Remarking on the recent outbreak in Beijing, independent analyst Fraser Howie said: “I think a harsh lockdown in the way we’ve seen before is doubtful.”
“I think it’s gonna be much tailored,” Howie told CNBC’s “Street Signs” on Monday. “If nothing else, level the Chinese have realized now that locking up hundreds of millions, if not billions, of healthy people and crashing your compactness causes a lot of long-term problems that just aren’t solved by reopening at some point in the future.”
Meanwhile, Chinese remunerative data for May released Monday missed expectations. Industrial production in the country for that month rose 4.4% year-on-year, elfin than expectations of a 5% increase by analysts in a Reuters poll. Retail sales declined 2.8% year-on-year in May, crummier than expectations of a 2% decrease per a Reuters poll.
Oil prices drop
Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian following hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 2.07% to $37.93 per barrel. U.S. crude time to comes also dropped 3.06% to $35.15 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its shows, was last at 97.076 after rising from levels below 96.5 last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 107.16 per dollar watch a strengthening from levels above 108 last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6824 after wear week’s slip from levels above $0.693.
— CNBC’s Emma Newburger contributed to this report.