Asian shares seen restricted on U.S. election, stimulus concerns

Asian share markets and majority of currencies were seen restrained on Monday. This followed after investors’ sentiment was affected by concerns about U.S. fiscal stimulus and vaccine clinical trials amid an upsurge of new virus cases in Europe.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recorded a 0.1% decline.

Australia’s benchmark index was 0.5% lower, while New Zealand dropped 0.6%. Chinese shares started turbulently as the blue-chip index shed 0.3%.

On Wall Street, U.S. shares performed weakly. The Dow tallied a 0.9% decline, while the S&P 500 fell 1.1%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 1.07%. Futures’ performance was subdued as the S&P e-minis dropped 0.1%.

The coronavirus crisis stands as the biggest threat to global growth, with analysts’ outlook for growth and inflation still murky.