Stocks in Asia-Pacific were lower in Friday trade, with South Korea’s Kospi leading losses among the region’s major markets.
The Nikkei 225 plunged 534.03 points, or 1.9%, to 27,663.39.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.57 per dollar, having weakened from levels below 104 against the greenback earlier in the trading week.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong tumbled 267.06 points, or 0.9%, to 28,283.71.
On the coronavirus front, biotech firm Novavax said that its vaccine was more than 89% effective in protecting against COVID-19.
A study found that the vaccine appeared to be 85.6% effective against the U.K. variant. A separate phase two study in South Africa, however, showed the vaccine isn’t nearly as effective against a new strain ravaging that country. Shares of the company were up more than 23% in after-hours trading.
Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 101.25 million people while at least 2.18 million lives have been taken, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7643 after falling below $0.762 yesterday.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 lost 25.18 points, or 0.5%, to 5,351.96.
In Korea, the Kospi index surrendered 92.84 points, or 3%, to 2,976.21
In Singapore, the Straits Times dumped 17.78 points, or 0.6%, to 2,902.52
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index stumbled 277.57 points, or 1.8%, to 15,138.31
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 defied the trend and actually gained 40.83 points, or 0.3%, to 13,127.29.
In Australia, the ASX 200 slumped 42.34 points, or 0.6%, to 6,607.36.
