Chinese equities are sitting deep in the red ahead of the holiday period
You can attribute the drop to growing virus concerns but the fact is that uncertainty breeds fear and with investors not sure what to expect ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday period starting tomorrow, we're seeing money being taken off the table.
In China, the Shanghai Composite and the CSI 300 indices are both down by more than 3% with the former falling below the 3,000 level while the latter is on course for its biggest drop since May last year.
Chinese markets will be closed from 24 January to 30 January in observance of the Chinese New Year holidays, so there will be five days of market closure in total.
Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index is down by more than 2% with Asian equities mostly seeing red across the board today.
That has weighed a little on the risk mood in general with bond yields tracking lower and USD/JPY also weaker at around 109.58 ahead of European trading.
