Asian stocks slide as new strain of COVID-19 darkens recovery prospects By Reuters



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© Reuters. People wearing protective masks, after a coronavirus outbreak, are reflected on a screen displaying the Nikkei index, outside a brokerage in Tokyo.

By Kane Wu and John McCrank

HONG KONG / NEW YORK (Reuters) – Asian stocks fell on Tuesday, extending a pullback from multi-year highs reached last week on renewed fears that a highly infectious new strain of COVID-19 that has shut down much of Britain it could lead to a global slowdown. Economic recovery.

Australia widened losses down 0.67%. 225 fell 0.85%.

MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan fell 0.21%. China’s benchmark CSI300 index and both opened 0.2% lower.

“An escalation of European COVID-19 restrictions in response to fears around a new variant, which is supposed to be spreading more rapidly, should, and of course, triggered a negative price reaction through the impact short-term global growth “. said Stephen Innes, Axi’s chief global market strategist.

“The illiquid conditions will persist until the end of the year, but drops like this could present more of an opportunity to disappear than anything else,” he said.

Countries around the world closed their borders to Britain on Monday due to fears over a new strain of coronavirus, said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original, causing travel chaos and increasing the possibility of food shortages days before Britain settles down. leave the European Union.

The discovery of the new strain, just months before vaccines are expected to be widely available, renewed fears about the virus, which has killed around 1.7 million people worldwide. As a result, European stocks fell Monday in their worst session in nearly two months.

Oil prices fell on expectations of lower demand, with a recent fall of 0.33% to $ 47.81 per barrel, while it was 0.2% lower at $ 50.81.

US stocks trimmed much of their initial losses during a volatile session on Monday in hopes that a long-anticipated stimulus package agreed to by congressional leaders will help fuel a stronger recovery.

It ended the day with a fall of 0.39% to 3,694.92.

The volatility of US equities soared in the low Christmas trade. The Cboe volatility index, known as Wall Street’s “gauge of fear,” posted its biggest one-day gain since late October, even though it finished its session high well.

it was up 0.3% to $ 1,881.7 per ounce, with safe-haven asset hitting a one-month high early in the session.

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