Asian shares mostly rise while virus fears continue

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Wednesday, despite overnight losses on Wall Street and continuing fears about an outbreak of a new virus that began in China.

The Nikkei 225 rose 1.0% in afternoon trading to 23,415.30.Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added0.4% to 7,144.60.South Korea's Kospideclined 0.2% to 2,204.66.Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4% to27,635.93, while the Shanghai Composite edged up0.1% to 2,986.34.

Adding to optimism, new virus cases in China have been falling, with 1,749 new infections and 136 new deaths announced on Wednesday. But data are showing disruptions to manufacturing, retailing and tourism.

“Collapse in demand due to COVID-19 remains the key worry for the markets across the globe as the disease continues its spread,” said Prakash Sakpal, economist for Asia at ING.

Japan reported its third straight monthof a trade deficitin January and like the rest of Asia is enduring a downturn in tourism.Some controlshave been set on travel to and from China andother places sufferingfrom outbreaks of the virus.

Trade is likely to be a “major drag” on Japan's economic growth this quarter, Tom Learmouth of Capital Economics said in a commentary. He is forecasting a 0.6% decrease in GDP in the January-March quarter linked to disruptions from the virus.

The gainsin Asian tradingfollowed a modest loss on U.S. stock indexes, which gave up some of their solid gains from the past two weeks.

Banks and technology stocks accounted for most of the decline.

The S&P 500 index fell 0.3% to 3,370.29. The benchmark index remains just below its all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.6% to 29,232.19, while the Nasdaq recovered from an early slide, inching up 0.1% to 9,732.74.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks fell...