Asian Stocks Trade Lower as Investors Monitor Vaccine Efficacy Report against Omicron

Major stock markets in Asia traded mostly lower on Monday as investors kept a closer eye on the development of the Covid-19 omicron variant, while vaccine efficacy against the new variant should be coming out soon.

 

As of 9:25 local time in Thailand on December 6, 2021, Nikkei dropped 0.71%, SSEC rose 0.40%, Hang Seng Index fell 1.01%, ASX 200 slipped 0.33% and IDX Composite was flat at 6,538.73 points.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s SET Index closed for a holiday.

 

The new Covid-19 strain first found in South Africa nearly two weeks ago and is now called omicron created turbulence across the capital market during this past week as scientists are putting more speed on the research of this new variant and testing existing vaccine efficacy against it. The results should be coming out by this week or next.

“This week would be crucial as we would likely get a better read of the Omicron’s severity,” stated DBSin note for Monday’s investment report.