Chinese shares plunge as investors cut risks over virus outbreak
Al JazeeraChinese stock markets opened after Lunar New Year holidays that were extended due to the spread of the coronavirus. “The PBOC’s hint of lowering interest rates is tempering the immediate downside … but the economic reality check could come later today or this week,” Stephen Innes, Asia Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader told Al Jazeera. Index compiler MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recorded its eighth straight day of losses as it fell 0.07 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei stumbled 1.01 percent and Australian shares fell 1.34 percent. It also said a plunge in the country’s stock markets on Monday was due to some irrational factors, including panic selling triggered by a “herd effect”. With most Chinese factories and offices closed until February 10, China’s industrial production in the first quarter of 2020 will suffer significantly, said Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit.