Asian Markets Rise; WHO Declares Global Health Emergency

By Alex Ho

Investing.com – Asian equities rebounded on Friday in Asia, snapping this week’s run of losses. Overnight, the World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus is a global health emergency.

The declaration came hours after the U.S. confirmed the first case of human-to-human transmission of the virus.

On Friday, China’s National Health Commission confirmed that death toll related to the virus hit 213, while confirmed cases rose to 9,692.

Hong Kong’s Index advanced 0.5% by 10:30 PM ET (02:30 GMT).

On the data front, China’s manufacturing PMI came in at 50.0 for January, in line with expectation. However, the country’s statistics bureau in its analysis of the data said that the impact of the coronavirus outbreak was not fully reflected in its January’s PMI reading, as the survey was conducted before Jan. 20.

Citing economists Chang Shu, Jamie Rush and Tom Orlik, Bloomberg said China’s economy may grow just 4.5% this quarter, down from 6% in the previous 3 month.

China’ stock markets will reopen on Monday.

Meanwhile, Japan’s gained 1.2%. Nintendo Co Ltd (T:) plunged 4.7% after company CEO said there is no plan to launch a new Switch model this year.

South Korea’s rose 0.3%.

Down under, Australia’s traded 0.3% higher.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.