Asian Stocks Up Despite COVID-19 Uncertainty

This post was originally published on this site

https://i-invdn-com.akamaized.net/news/LYNXMPEB40170_M.jpg
© Reuters. © Reuters.

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asian stock markets were up on Tuesday with modest gains despite the economic uncertainty unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan’s  rose 1.89% by 10:23 PM ET (3:23 AM GMT). Conglomerate Softbank Group (T:) saw its shares gain 2.95% as they rallied from an earlier drop of more than 3% the day before. The company announced that its Vision Fund expected to see a loss of JPY 1.8 trillion ($16.69 billion) for the 2019 fiscal year due to a “deteriorating market environment.”

China’s  was up 0.57% while the  was up 0.93%. with Chinese trade data for March set to be released later in the day.

Investors will be taking a close look at the data as Wuhan lifted its three-month lockdown in the previous week.

South Korea’s  gained 1.6% as the country prepares to vote for its National Assembly representatives on Wednesday.

The  rose 0.49% and Hong Kong’s  was up by 0.4% as investors resumed work from the four-day Easter weekend.

But some investors are skeptical as companies enter into a difficult earnings seasons and governments assess the pandemic’s economic damage as the search for a cure continues.

“Companies, analysts, traders, investors and strategists to some extent are ‘flying into earnings season without instruments,’” John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., told Bloomberg. “The unprecedented nature of the economic shutdown, social distancing and sheltering in place ordered by officials provides an overhang of uncertainty.”

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.