Asian shares mixed on stalled US virus aid

Stocks were mixed in Asia on Thursday despite strong gains overnight on Wall Street, where the rally just kept on rolling. Investors are watching to see if lawmakers will come ahead with fresh stimulus for the US economy.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index shed 0.4 percent to 22,438.61 while the Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.3 percent to 3,367.65. Hong Kong lost 1.2 percent to 24,779.07. South Korea’s Kospi added 1 percent to 2,333.86 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7 percent to 6,043.00.

Overnight, the S& P 500 index logged its fourth straight gain, pulling within 2 percent of the record high it set in February. Negotiators on Capitol Hill reported some progress in talks for more support for the economy as pressure mounts for quicker action.

A report on Wednesday suggested that hiring was far weaker last month than economists expected. Private employers added just 167,000 jobs, according to a survey by payroll processor ADP, well below the 1.2 million that economists had forecast.

Overall, “stocks remain underpinned by optimism over the coronavirus relief bill. Democrats and the White House are inching closer to a deal, and the market remains cheery an agreement can be signed off by the end of the week,” Stephen Innes of AxiCorp said in a commentary.

Rising caseloads of the coronavirus remain a concern, however, with officials in Spain warning of a relapse while numbers continue to mount in the US In Hong Kong, authorities reported 85 newly confirmed cases, almost all of them untraceable or locally transmitted.

In Japan, the governor of Aichi prefecture, where Toyota Motor Corp. has its headquarters, declared a state of emergency, saying newly confirmed cases have been rising by more than 100 daily. Before that, daily cases had been zero for extended periods.