Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Thursday as investors assessed risks surrounding the omicron COVID variant.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 backed off from recent gains, by 135.15 points, or 0.5%, to 28,725.47.
The Japanese yen strengthened in late-afternoon trade, changing hands at 113.45 per U.S. dollar.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng leaped 257.99 points, or 1.1%, to 24,254.86.
Trading in shares of Macao’s Suncity Group and its unit Summit Ascent Holdings were suspended. Suncity shares were halted pending an announcement in relation to a possible loan default, Reuters reported, citing a company statement. Suncity’s chief executive was arrested last month over alleged links to cross-border gambling, according to the news agency.
Hong Kong-listed shares of major Chinese tech companies advanced. Shares of Alibaba rose 2.32%, Baidu advanced 1.52%, Meituan added 0.73% and Tencent was up 1.2%.
Australian stocks subsided, with most sectors closing lower. The energy and materials subindexes fell 1.09% and 0.51%. Rio Tinto docked 0.9% while rival miner BHP fell 1.2%.
The Australian dollar traded down 0.1% at $0.7164.
Investors are keeping an eye on the omicron COVID variant, which has rattled markets in recent weeks.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday said the variant could change the course of the pandemic. Scientists worldwide are scrambling to determine just how contagious and lethal omicron is and how effective would existing vaccines be against the virus.
While preliminary evidence from South Africa, where the variant was first identified, may suggest that omicron is milder than the delta strain, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 says it is "too early to conclude" that.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 gained 82.76 points, or 1.7%, to 5,078.69.
In Taiwan, the Taiex vaulted 81.7 points, or 0.5%, to 17,914.12
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index recovered 12.68 points, or 0.4%, to 3,142.45
In Korea, the Kospi index advanced 27.77 points, or 0.9%, to 3,029.57
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 skidded 96.49 points, or 0.8%, to 12,771.83
In Australia, the ASX 200 lost 20.99 points, or 0.3%, at 7,384.46
