Asia

Asia-Pacific Stocks Fall in Morning Trade

Major stock indexes in the region traded lower on Wednesday, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage worldwide and investors remain concerned about its impact on the global economy.
Sputnik

Asia-Pacific stocks fell in morning trade on Thursday, CNBC News reported.

Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.34 percent, driven by Fanuc's losses of 2.64 percent. The Topix index dipped 1.08 percent.  

South Korea's Kospi also fell slightly, losing 0.39 percent.

In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.27 percent, while the Shenzhen composite slipped 0.496 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng also dropped 0.73 percent.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 1.52 percent lower, following Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac falling 2 percent each.

Overall in the region, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index dropped 0.76 percent.

While major stock indexes in the region traded lower, Australia's unemployment rate for the first two weeks of March came in at 5.2 percent - lower than the 5.5 percent expected by the country's bureau of statistics.

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