Asian stock markets mixed at midweek's close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Major Asian stock markets closed the midweek mixed amid concerns over the recent coronavirus outbreaks in China.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, dropped 0.26%, or 7.4 points, to 2,797.67.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange was marginally down by 0.02%, or 4.42 points, to 26,396.8.

The Japanese yen sank to a fresh 24-year low on Wednesday, fueled by a widening policy gap between the Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve.

The US dollar rose to as high as 146.38 yen during the day, surpassing levels that led Japan to intervene in the foreign exchange market last month for the first time since 1998.

The Japan 10-year government bond was untraded for a fourth consecutive session Monday, the longest streak since 1999.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, lost 0.78% or 131.33 points to close at 16,701.

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange jumped 1.53%, or 45.7 points, to reach 3,025.5.

The Indian Sensex benchmark went up 0.84%, or 478.6 points, to end the day at 57,625.9 points, while the Singapore index dropped 0.70%, or 21.8 points, to close at 3,083.

Meanwhile, Japanese carmaker Toyota has opened a new car assembly plant in Myanmar after a delay of over 19 months due to the coup in the country, according to reports on Wednesday.