Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures were up 0.37 per cent, Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures slipped 1.26 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.05 per cent to be 1.13 per cent below yesterday's cash index close. ― Reuters pic
“It looks like we’re in for another negative day of trading here in the Asia Pacific region,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. “It's very clear that the containment has done economic damage and the recovery will take years and not weeks,” he said. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.89 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 2.05 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.06 per cent.
Stock markets have rebounded sharply in recent weeks as the spread of the novel coronavirus slowed in some countries in Asia and Europe, while parts of the US economy began to reopen after weeks of lockdowns.