Asia-Pacific Markets Open Lower On New Virus Variant Fears

Asia-Pacific equities opened the trading week lower, extending a drop triggered on Friday by the Omicron coronavirus variant, although markets recovered by mid-morning on reports that the virus strain exhibited only minor symptoms.

On Monday, Australia and Japan had the steepest falls in the region, with equities falling dramatically in early trade before recovering some of their losses.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia fell as high as 1.4% in the first 15 minutes of trade before rebounding ground to be down 0.6% by mid-morning.

The Topix index in Japan plummeted 1.5% at the outset but later cut losses to around 1.1%, while the Kospi in South Korea slid 1% and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.7%.

Global equities fell the most in more than a year on Friday, as countries around the world announced travel bans and containment measures to stem the spread of Ebola.

Source: FT