Growing worldwide concern over the new coronavirus omicron variant saw some major Asian markets drop on Thursday, while European indices were also in negative territory at midday.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 182.25 points, or 0.65%, to finish the day at 27,753, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange dropped 3.05 points, or 0.09%, to 3,573.
The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was up by 1.09 points, or 0.03%, to close at around 3,738 points.
The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, climbed by 130.01 points, or 0.55%, to 23,788.
The Indian Sensex benchmark gained 736.78 points, or 1.28%, to close at 58,421, and the Singapore index rose by 6.14 points, or 0.20%, to 3,092.
Source: Anadolu Agency