Asian Stock Market: Trades mixed on Delta variant concerns

Most of the Asia-pacific stocks trade lower except one or two indices on Tuesday following a soft session on Wall Street.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.4%.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1% after closing 1% higher in the previous session. China reported fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, while some cities started more rounds of mass testing in a bid to find out locally transmitted infections. The annual inflation rate slowed to a three-month low.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% to a two-week high after a long weekend break. Japan’s current account surplus rose sharply to Ұ 905.1 billion from Ұ148.3 billion on yearly basis.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.55%, Kospi declined 0.56%.

The ASX 200 rose 0.3% to a fresh high of 7,563 on upbeat corporate earnings despite rising coronavirus infections and extension of lockdown. Victoria state observed a slight rise in new cases.

Gold prices attempted to stabilise after falling to a more than four-month low on Monday on expectations of an early tapering of the Fed’s asset purchase program.