Asian stock markets falter as Omicron disrupts travel plans

Lola Evans
27 Dec 2021, 17:59 GMT+10

Holiday thin trading saw bourses in Asia lose ground on Monday.
Stock exchanges in Australia and Hong Kong were closed for the Christmas holidays.
Omicron took the blame for Monday's losses as thousands of flights worldwide were canceled.

TOKYO, Japan - Holiday thin trading saw bourses in Asia lose ground on Monday.

Stock exchanges in Australia and Hong Kong were closed for the Christmas holidays.

Omicron took the blame for Monday's losses as thousands of flights worldwide were canceled, disrupting travel plans for a hesitant public.

"Omicron cases are surging in the U.S. and Europe, and although markets have well and truly priced in a less virulent strain, the disruption to goods and services from isolating workers, notably air travel, seems to be the main fallout so far," Jeffrey Halley, senior Asia Pacific market analyst at OANDA told Reuters Monday.

"That is only likely to cause short-term nerves, with the global recovery story for 2022 still on track."

At the close on Monday, the Nikkei 225 in Japan was off 106.13 points or 0.37 percent at 28,676.46.

China's Shanghai Composite slipped 2.08 points or 0.06 percent to 3,615.97.

In Seoul, South Korea, the Kospi Composite lost 12.88 points or 0.43 percent to 2,999.55.

The U.S. dollar was mixed during the Adian trading zone. The euro was little changed at 1.1327 in late trading in Tokyo. The British pound edged up to 1.3401. The Japanese yen softened to 114.47. The SWiss franc was little changed at 0.9190.

The Canadian dollar inched down to 1.2822. The Australian dollar traded in a tight range around 0.7222. The New Zealand dollar was a fraction weaker at 0.6810.

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