(Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Asia struggled for traction as investors mulled the situation arising from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Oil steadied after its recent slide.
U.S. equity futures were steady, while shares closed little changed in Tokyo and Sydney, and ticked higher in Hong Kong. As officials in China widened their travel ban beyond the epicenter of the outbreak, the World Health Organization stopped short of calling the virus a global health emergency, saying it remains a local crisis. The yuan edged up and the yen held Thursday’s rise. Treasuries were little changed.
Markets in mainland China and South Korea are shut, and Hong Kong closed early, for lunar new year holidays.
While investors remain cautious with global stocks trading close to all-time highs, corporate earnings are topping expectations and slew of data this month has validated forecasts for a recovery in the global economy. Still, traders remain cognizant of the chance the virus develops into a more devastating pandemic like the SARS illness that emerged in China 17 years ago.
“The scare should eventually prove to be a buying opportunity, but the market would first need evidence that the situation is stabilizing,” wrote Citgroup Inc. emerging market strategists including Dirk Willer in a note Thursday. “In spite of the Chinese authorities being more open and proactive this time, we are probably closer to the beginning than to the end of the outbreak.”
Concerns about the virus has also taken some steam out of Asia’s dollar bond market, with the spread on the notes widening about 9 basis points through Thursday, set for the worst week since August, according to a Bloomberg Barclays (LON:BARC) index.
Elsewhere, the euro held losses seen in wake of a suggestion from policy makers that they will need to maintain ultra-loose stimulus settings for the foreseeable future.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- Futures on the S&P 500 Index added 0.1% as of 3:18 p.m. in Tokyo. The underlying gauge rose 0.1% on Thursday.
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures advanced 0.7%.
- Japan’s Topix index was flat at the close.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2%.
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed.
- The yen was at 109.53 per dollar, little changed.
- The offshore yuan rose 0.1% to 6.9237 per dollar.
- The euro bought $1.1051, little changed.
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries stayed at 1.74%.
- Australia’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to 1.08%.
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil added 0.4% to $55.8 a barrel.
- Gold dipped 0.1% to $1,561.84 an ounce.