Asian markets fall
Credit to Author: Agence France-Presse| Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2020 16:20:21 +0000
HONG KONG: Asian markets fell on Thursday, with tech stocks and airlines among key losers as the World Health Organization called an urgent meeting on whether to declare a global health emergency over a virus, which has killed 170 people and infected more than 7,700.
United States Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the 2019 novel coronavirus posed a new risk to growth in China and elsewhere.
In Asian stock markets, Taipei closed down 5.8 percent on the first day of trade since the Chinese New Year break with Eva Airways plunging 9.9 percent and market heavyweight and key Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing sliding 5 percent.
Fellow Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry fell by the daily limit 10 percent after it said most of its manufacturing plants in China would remain closed until February 10.
The tech giant, better known as Foxconn, is the world’s biggest contract electronics maker and assembles Apple’s iPhones, as well as gadgets for other international brands.
The move will likely impact global supply chains for tech companies that rely on the Taiwan firm to manufacture everything from iPhones to flatscreen televisions and laptops.
Foxconn, which employs more than 1 million workers in China, accounts for the most US-bound exports by volume from Hubei province, which is at the epicenter of the virus outbreak.
Tokyo closed down 1.7 percent and Hong Kong ended 2.6 percent lower.
Japanese automaker Toyota said it would keep its plants in China closed until at least February 9 over concerns about the outbreak.
Among other markets, Seoul slipped 1.7 percent, Singapore retreated 0.8 percent and Sydney was down 0.3 percent.
European markets took their lead from the Asian losses, with London down 1.1 percent at the open, Frankfurt off 1.4 percent and Paris 1.5 percent lower.
“Equity markets remain acutely vulnerable to adverse developments in the Wuhan virus situation,” said Oanda analyst Jeffrey Halley.
Uncertainty
The Fed held its policy interest rate steady on Wednesday, but was on alert for possible contagion to the domestic and global economies.
“There will clearly be implications at least in the near term for Chinese output and I would guess for some of their close neighbors,” Powell told reporters following the Fed’s policy meeting.
But “the situation is really in its early stages and it’s very uncertain about how far it will spread and what the macroeconomic effects will be,” he added. “We are very carefully monitoring the situation.”
Oil fell following a higher-than-expected jump in US inventory, with Brent down 1.8 percent and the WTI contract off 1.7 percent.