Asia markets dip as virus fears linger

A pedestrian walks past the Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Japan. The Nikkei 225 closed down 0.4% to 28,676.46 points yesterday.

Asian shares dipped in thin holiday trade yesterday as fears lingered over the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant.The highly transmissible strain has sent new cases skyrocketing across the globe, with countries reviving lockdowns, major sports leagues cancelling fixtures, and cruise ships returning to port with Covid-infected passengers.Even in China, where a “zero-Covid” strategy has largely kept infections in check, officials recorded 206 new infections on Sunday — a count tiny by worldwide standards, but the country’s biggest such figure in 21 months.Tokyo fell 0.4%, while Shanghai and Seoul also ended lower.Hong Kong and Sydney were closed for a holiday.“Concerns about Omicron weighed on the market,” said Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities.And senior strategist Yoshihiro Ito of Okasan Online Securities warned that “the sense of caution over the spread of infections (due to Omicron) remains strong”.“The market also lacked strength, with the number of investors limited due to the year-end holiday,” Horiuchi told AFP.In early European trade, Paris was down 0.2%, while Frankfurt was down 0.2%.London was closed for the holiday.On Friday before the Christmas break, markets wavered in similarly subdued trade.A day earlier on Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended the last session before the long holiday weekend at a fresh record following a raft of mostly decent US economic data.And a study released Sunday showed US consumers were in the mood to spend over the holiday season, with retail sales soaring 8.5% over last year. Online sales were up 11% and in-store sales up 8.1% between November 1 and Christmas Eve, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse study.“Consumers splurged throughout the season,” said Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard and former CEO of Saks Incorporated.In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed down 0.4% to 28,676.46 points; Hong Kong — Hang Seng Index ended up 0.1% to 23,223.76 points and Shanghai Composite closed down 0.06% to 3,615.97 points yesterday.