Asian shares ease on virus surge, geopolitics

Asian share markets were seen retreating on Wednesday. This was mainly from weak market confidence that a surge of coronavirus cases will prolong economic inactivity, even as U.S. retail sales recorded historic highs in May.

Geopolitics pressed deeper as India reported that 20 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes with the Chinese military at a disputed border site. More so, North Korea rejected South Korea’s offer of sending special envoys and pledged to send back troops to the border.

This dragged trading activity, sending Japan’s Nikkei down by 0.7%. The decline followed after the index soared almost 5% on Tuesday, its largest daily gain in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan placed flat after its 2.8% record on Monday. More so, majority of markets across the region had made minimal changes.