Asian markets sustained another day of significant losses Tuesday, due to rising worries over a new and highly infectious new variant of COVID-19 that prompted dozens of countries to suspend all travel from Britain.
The Nikkei in Tokyo and Sydney’s S&P/ASX indices both closed out their respective trading sessions with a one percent loss. Hong Kong’s index, the Hang Seng, ended 0.7% lower. The Shanghai Composite index plunged 1.8%. Seoul’s KOSPI index fell 1.6%, and the TSEC in Taipei lost 1.4%.
Mumbai’s Sensex index is up 0.8% in late afternoon trading.
In commodities trading, gold is trading at $1,878 an ounce, down 0.2%. U.S. crude oil is selling at $47.24 per barrel, down 1.5%, and Brent crude oil is selling at $50.21 per barrel, down 1.3%.
At least 40 nations, including many across Europe, have suspended arrivals of passengers from Britain for various lengths of time in response to a new coronavirus strain detected in southern Britain.
In futures trading, the Dow and the S&P 500 are both down, while the Nasdaq is trending higher.
