Asian stocks mixed after Wall St retreat as virus cases rise

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Tuesday, as Japanese shares echoed pullbacks on Wall Street while other regional indexes recouped earlier losses amid continuing worries about surging coronavirus cases.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 0.4% to 27,159.27 as the government was preparing to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and several surrounding areas.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched down less than 0.1% to 6,681.90. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.0% to 2,975.05, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4% to 27,577.74. The Shanghai Composite climbed 0.5% to 3,521.75.

Japan's prime minister has said the government is considering declaring a state of emergency to help curb the spread of infections. The move is expected this week. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and the governors of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa asked the national government over the weekend to declare the emergency after the capital saw a daily record of 1,337 cases on New Year’s Eve.

U.S. stocks pulled back from their recent record highs, as big swings return to Wall Street at the onset of a year where the dominant expectation is for a powerful economic rebound to sweep the world.

“With the seven-day average new cases still hanging in the 600 K zone globally, few are likely expecting the market to be spared the resurgence of COVID-19 fears,” said Jingyi Pan, senior market strategist at IG in Singapore.

“Certainly, with the amalgamation of factors ranging from the U.K.’s third nationwide lockdown announcement, U.S. hospitalizations surging to a record and Tokyo mulling a state of emergency, these had all been evidence of the still raging pandemic inducing the risk-off mood to start the year for U.S. indices," Pan said.

The S&P 500, which ended 2020 at an all-time high, slid 1.5% after earlier...