Asian stocks collapsed at the start of the week under pressure from rising coronavirus case numbers worldwide. On the Tokyo stock exchange, the Nikkei index, comprising 225 values, was 0.2 percent lower at 23,480 points.
The broader Topix index fell 0.5 percent and stood at 1618 points. The Shanghai stock exchange was 0.7 percent in the red. The index of the most important companies in Shanghai and Shenzen lost 0.5 percent. The MSCI index for Asian stocks outside of Japan barely moved.
In Asian foreign exchange trading, the dollar gained 0.2 percent to 104.90 yen and stagnated at 6.6857 yuan. In relation to the Swiss currency, it was quoted 0.1 percent higher at 0.9049 francs. In parallel, the euro fell 0.2 percent to 1.1833 dollars and fell 0.1 percent to 1.0709 francs. The pound sterling lost 0.1 percent to $ 1.3022.
The virus situation in the USA is of particular concern to the Asian markets. The highest number of new Covid 19 infections had been recorded there in the past two days. In addition, the handling of the corona virus continues to determine the final spurt of the US election campaign. "We have increased the probability that Biden will win from 65 percent to 75 percent," wrote analysts from NatWest Markets.
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