Asian markets end Thursday with mixed figures

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Growing worldwide concern over the new coronavirus omicron variant saw some major Asian markets drop on Thursday, while European indices were also in negative territory at midday.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 182.25 points, or 0.65%, to finish the day at 27,753, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange dropped 3.05 points, or 0.09%, to 3,573.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was up by 1.09 points, or 0.03%, to close at around 3,738 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, climbed by 130.01 points, or 0.55%, to 23,788.

The Indian Sensex benchmark gained 736.78 points, or 1.28%, to close at 58,421, and the Singapore index rose by 6.14 points, or 0.20%, to 3,092.

- European markets

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of 17 European countries, was down by 4.25 points, or 0.9%, to 466.61 as of 0953GMT.

London’s FTSE 100 fell by 41.63 points, or 0.58%, to 7,127, while Germany’s DAX index slipped to 15,336, down by 136.53 points, or 0.88%.

The French CAC 40 lost 49.09 points, or 0.71%, to stand at 6,832 points, while Italy’s FTSE MIB shed 190.56 points, or 0.72%, to 26,181.

Spain’s IBEX 35 also dropped by 4.25 points, or 0.9%, to 8,388.