Asian shares plunge on weak Wall Street, short selling

Asian share markets were seen subdued on Thursday. Meanwhile, the dollar advanced as investors withdrew from shares due to a sudden selloff on Wall Street and a series of roadblocks that restricted coronavirus vaccines from rolling out.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recorded a 1.8% decline. The downbeat performance had resulted in stretched valuations as the index gained more than 6% in January. Japan’s Nikkei, on the other hand, dropped 1.3% to hit its lowest level since October. Chinese blue chips traded 2.4% as liquidity tightened ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The series of drops greatly supported the safe-haven dollar, with its index recording a 90.753 increase from a weak record of 89.206 in January. In turn, this pushed gold prices up around $1,836 per ounce.