Asian shares erased earlier gains on Wednesday, swinging into negative territory as a spike in new Chinese virus cases sent Hong Kong stocks tumbling and fueled fears about the economic impact of the outbreak.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.52%. Hong Kong shares, fell 2.8% on their first session after a two-and-a-half trading day break for Lunar New Year, led by declines in financial services, real estate, and consumer goods companies.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam previously announced that high-speed rail services and ferries would be suspended from midnight on Thursday , and that the number of flights to mainland China would also be halved. Personal travel permits for mainland Chinese to the city would be suspended.