Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales revenue to US govt- FT
* China stocks fall further as virus toll reaches 9
* Regional markets arrest slide as global contagion fears
pause
* WHO meets Wednesday to consider severity of virus outbreak
* Oil recovers from Libyan supply jitters
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets bounced on
Wednesday as China's response to a virus outbreak tempered fears
of a global pandemic, although Shanghai shares slipped amid
worries about a hit to domestic demand and tourism.
Fears of contagion, particularly as millions travel for
Lunar New Year festivities, has pushed stocks from record peaks.
The outbreak has revived memories of the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2002-03, a coronavirus
outbreak that killed nearly 800 people and hurt world travel.
Yet this time, China's response and candour - in contrast to
the initial cover-up of the SARS outbreak - has tempered some of
the gravest fears about the possible global fallout.
China's National Health Commission said on Wednesday there
were 440 cases of the new virus, with nine deaths so far.
Measures are now in place to minimise public gatherings in the
most-affected regions. The Shanghai Composite index .SSEC recovered from an early
1.4% drop to trade 0.5% lower by mid-morning. Markets elsewhere
advanced, driving the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS up 0.5%.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 , Korea's Kospi index .KS11 and
Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI all rose by more than half a
percentage point after heavy drops on Tuesday. Australia's
S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO shrugged off worries to hit a fresh record
high.
"The call here is not that the virus is done or nipped in
the bud by any means," said Kay Van-Petersen, global macro
strategist at Saxo Capital Markets.
"But there have been no big further reported outbreaks, and
the response from the Chinese authorities has been very, very
positive...China is 1.4 billion people. This is not the first
time they're tackling a bug that's gotten out of hand."
The outbreak, from its origin in Wuhan, China, has reached
the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Cases have been confirmed in 13 Chinese provinces.
The World Health Organization (WHO) meets later on Wednesday
to consider whether the outbreak is an international emergency.
SARS FLASHBACK
Airlines, other travel-exposed stocks and retailers
vulnerable to shifts in consumer sentiment have borne the brunt
of selling in the past two days along with the Chinese yuan.
MSCI's airline industry index .dMIWO0AL00P posted its
biggest daily drop in more than three months on Tuesday and
shares in the industry were still falling on Wednesday.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI fell half a percent and the S&P 500 .SPX dropped almost
a third of a percentage point, led by falls in airlines and
China-exposed casino operators.
"While details on the coronavirus are scant, we reckon that
the SARS period could offer some clues as to how markets could
pan out," said analysts at Singapore's DBS Bank.
"The trends are clear: Yields and stock prices fell in the
first few months of the SARS outbreak and rebounded thereafter."
So far, the yield on U.S. 10-year government bonds has
stabilised after Tuesday's drop, sitting a little firmer at
1.7865% US10YT=RR . US/
Spot gold XAU= also gave back some gains to hold 0.3%
weaker at $1,553.01 per ounce.
In currencies, the safe-haven yen JPY= eased slightly from
the one-week high it touched overnight, although the yuan nursed
its losses. It was steady at 6.9026 per dollar CNY= .
Oil prices also settled back as traders figured a
well-supplied global market would be able to absorb disruptions
that have cut Libya's crude production to a trickle. O/R
Brent LCOc1 futures settled down 20 cents at $64.59 a
barrel. U.S. crude CLc1 fell 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $58.38 per
barrel.