Asian shares mostly lower, Japan gains on upbeat data

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's benchmark advanced but other Asian shares fell Wednesday amid uncertainty over the coronavirus outbreak, which continues to claim more lives around the world.

Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.1% to finish at 19,353.24. Stronger than expected machinery orders helped lift sentiment. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed nearly 0.9% to 5,206.90, while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3% to 1,817.74. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.3% to 23,927.49 and the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.5% to 2,807.83.

A short-lived rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished in a market dominated by sharp swings responding to the ups and downs of the news about the pandemic.

“The recent risk rally faded quickly despite recent stimulus efforts from both monetary and fiscal authorities, with market players coming to terms with the unabated rise in fatalities as the virus continues to spread,” Prakash Sakpal and Nicholas Mapa, economists at ING, said in a report.

In Asia, Japan's state of emergency kicked in, focused on seven urban areas, including Tokyo, with strong government requests for people to stay home and restaurants and stores to close for a month. It was unclear how effective the entirely voluntary measures would be.

Goldman Sachs said in a report that Japan’s economy is headed to a record 25% contraction in the current quarter, with exports diving by 60% in the April-June period. The contraction for the world’s third largest economy would be a record, since GDP, or gross domestic product, began to be tracked in 1955.

Japan’s economic activity will likely recover with the third quarter and GDP is expected to grow 3.1% in 2021, it said.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% to 2,659.41 after erasing a surge of 3.5% earlier in the day. The market’s gains faded as the price of U.S....