HONG KONG / NEW YORK (Reuters) – Asian stocks fell on Tuesday, extending the withdrawal from last year’s multi-year highs hit by renewed fears, a new highly infectious strain of COVID-19 that closed much of the UK could lead to a slowdown in the global economic recovery.
The Australian S & P / ASX 200 extended losses to 0.67%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 0.85%.
The MSCI range of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.21%. China’s CSI300 Index and Hang Seng Index both opened 0.2%.
“An escalation of European restrictions COVID-19 in response to fears of a new variant, which is supposed to spread faster, should and has, of course, provoked a negative reaction from prices through the short-term impact of growth. global market, ”said Stephen Innes, global market strategist at Axi.
“The illiquid conditions will persist until the end of the year, but declines like this could provide more of an opportunity to disappear than anything else,” he said.
Countries around the world closed their borders with Britain on Monday over fears of a new strain of coronavirus, which is said to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original, causing chaos in travel and raising the prospect of a shortage. a few days before the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
The discovery of the new strain, just months before vaccines became widely available, renewed fears about the virus, which has killed about 1.7 million people worldwide. As a result, European stocks fell on Monday in the worst session in two months.
Oil prices fell in line with expectations of lower demand, with US crude oil falling 0.33% to $ 47.81 a barrel recently, while Brent was down 0.2%, at $ 50.81.
US stocks reduced much of their early losses during a volatile session on Monday, in the hope that a long-awaited stimulus package agreed by congressional leaders will help stimulate a stronger recovery.
The S&P 500 ended the day down 0.39% at 3,694.92.
Volatility in US equities has risen in sluggish holiday trading. The Cboe volatility index, known as the “fear gap” on Wall Street, recorded the biggest one-day gain since the end of October, even though it ended much of the session.
Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $ 1,881.7 an ounce, with the safe haven asset reaching a one-month high earlier in the session.
Reporting by John McCrank in New York and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Mountain by Sam Holmes