- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
- German suspect in 'Maddie' case faces verdict in sex crimes trial
- Top economic official 'confident' China will hit 2024 growth target
- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
Asian stocks down as Covid surge in China spooks investors
Asia-Pacific stocks fell in early trade on Thursday as the Covid surge in China cast a shadow over markets across the region.
Investors had cheered the easing of China's strict zero-Covid controls -- which had hammered the world's second-largest economy -- but are now worried about the impact of the outbreak on global supply chains and inflation.
The United States, Japan and Italy have imposed restrictions on visitors from China, and a senior US official warned that the surge increases the potential for new Covid variants to emerge.
Hong Kong and Tokyo were both down more than one percent in early trade. Sydney, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul were also in the red.
Volumes were thin in the final trading week of the year, with investors chewing on the prospects of a recession in 2023, and how central banks -- especially the US Federal Reserve -- are going to handle the fight against rampaging inflation.
The Fed and others have repeatedly raised interest rates to put the brakes on soaring prices, but higher borrowing costs also slow down economic activity.
"The key trading themes will continue to dominate in early January, most notably how far central banks are willing to push interest rates in order to display their determination to get inflation back to target," OANDA's Craig Erlam said in a note on Wednesday.
"Many have already started easing off the brake and we're seeing plenty of signs of pressures easing, albeit perhaps not as much as policymakers would have liked by now."
- Oil prices drop -
The plunge in Asia-Pacific shares followed sharp falls on Wall Street on Wednesday, where the main indexes all closed in the red.
The Dow lost 1.1 percent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq slid 1.4 percent.
The US losses came on a low day for most markets as hopes for a so-called "Santa Claus rally" ebbed.
The "Santa Claus rally" is a seven-session stretch over Christmas and New Year that typically sees stocks drifting higher in light trade.
Analysts said low-volume, low-risk trade will continue until the year ticks over.
In oil markets, the two main crude contracts were both lower, with traders concerned about the possibility of China's Covid outbreak fuelling a global resurgence of the disease and depressing energy demand.
Meanwhile, Germany shrugged off Russia's ban on oil sales to countries and companies that comply with a price cap on its crude exports.
The price ceiling of $60 per barrel agreed by the European Union, G7 and Australia came into force this December in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It seeks to restrict Russia's revenue while making sure it keeps supplying the global market.
- Key figures at around 0315 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.3 percent at 25,998.76
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.0 percent at 19,704.05
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,081.08
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0624 from $1.0618 at 2215 GMT on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2039 from $1.2018
Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.26 pence from 88.30 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 133.68 from 134.39 yen
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.6 percent at $78.47 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 0.5 percent at $82.83 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.1 percent at 32,875.71 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 7,497.19 (close)
S.F.Lacroix--CPN