Asian shares fluctuated as markets meandered when regarding news about economies reopening on Friday. Lots of investors are concerned about the prolonged health risks from the new coronavirus.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 increased by 0.6% to 5,362.80. On the other hand, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 tumbled down by almost 0.2% to 19,881.46 in morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi also dropped down by 0.3% to 1,919.51.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost nearly 0.3% to 23,767.56, while the Shanghai Composite changed insignificantly at 2,870.69.
Japan is gradually easing restrictions and reopening some businesses, but investors are worried due to the increasing number of new virus cases.
Riki Ogawa of Mizuho Bank stated that bright spots in the stock markets and the economy should not cause complacency. We are not out of the woods yet. He thinks that while economies are preparing to emerge from varying degrees of lockdown, restoration of “normalcy” will take much longer.
How did U.S. futures fare?
The U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, rebounding after a sharp morning drop. The S&P 500 soared by 1.2% to 2,852.20. Other futures also skyrocketed during the last session.
Financial stocks in the S&P 500 rallied by 2.6%. They saw the biggest gain among the index’s 11 sectors so far. Wells Fargo jumped up by 6.8%, and Bank of America skyrocketed by 4%.
More than 75% of stocks in the S&P 500 were higher by the end of Fridays’ session, while in the morning, more than 90% were down.
Wall Street has been wavering for weeks now. At first, the stocks collapsed by more than 30% due to worries over the coming recession, then they hit a high point, recovering losses and adding more gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 1.6% to 23,625.34. The Nasdaq composite also climbed up by 0.9% to 8,943.72. However, investors are extra cautious due to the escalating tensions between the U.S. and China.
