Asian shares retreat after bumpy day on Wall Street
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares fell in Asia on Tuesday on renewed worries that troubles with COVID vaccine rollouts and the spread of new variants of coronavirus might delay a recovery from the pandemic.
Hong Kong led other regional markets lower, dropping 2.4% to 29,440.03.
Traders are keeping a wary eye on rising coronavirus infections in various countries and a bumpy rollout of vaccinations in the U.S. The spread of variants t hat are thought to be more easily transmissible and might be less effectively targeted by existing vaccines is adding to alarm.
Vaccine maker Moderna said Monday that it will study whether a booster shot would be needed to protect against variants of the coronavirus, “out of an abundance of caution."
“Nowadays the market mood is set by either the hopes that the COVID vaccine would mark the end of the biggest economic downturn of our lifetime, or the stimulus hopes to keep our heads above water. Yesterday, both hopes got smashed," Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said in a commentary.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index declined 1% to 28,546.18, while the Shanghai Composite index dropped 1.5% to 3,569.43. South Korea's Kospi lost 2.1% to 3,140.31. Shares also fell in Southeast Asia.
Markets in Australia and India were closed for holidays.
Stocks swerved to a mixed finish on Wall Street on Monday, ahead of a deluge of corporate earnings reports scheduled to arrive this week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 3,855.36 as gains for influential Big Tech stocks offset losses for most companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 30,960.00. The Nasdaq composite, which is packed with tech stocks, rose 0.7% to 13,635.99 and another record.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks fell 0.3%, to 2,163.27. The yield on the 10-year...
