Asia shares mostly rise after meandering on pandemic worries

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Friday after meandering on news about economies reopening, mixed with worries about the prolonged health risks from the new coronavirus.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 recouped earlier losses to finish at 20,037.47, up 0.6%. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.2% to 1,927.88. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.4% to 5,404.80. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was little changed, falling less than 0.1% to 23,811.51, while the Shanghai Composite inched up 0.2% to 2,875.59.

“Bright spots in the markets and the economy should not breed complacency about being out of the woods," Riki Ogawa of Mizuho Bank said. “Fact is, even as economies prepare to emerge from varying degrees of lockdown, restoration of ‘normalcy’ is a much longer road.”

Parts of Japan are gradually easing requests for people to stay home and for some businesses to stay closed, while worries deepen over case numbers rising.

The Keidanren, which represents more than 1,000 Japanese companies and regional economic groups, released guidelines for safer work, including instructions on having office workers coming into the office just three days each week to minimize commutes, and adapting workplaces for social distancing.

Overnight, Wall Street rallied back from a sharp morning drop.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.2% to 2,852.20 in another scattershot day of trading, with many stocks flipping from the bottom of the leaderboard to the top following a few sharp reversals in momentum.

Wall Street has been wavering for weeks as it digests gargantuan moves the market made earlier this year, first down more than 30% on worries over the coming recession and then up more than 30% on hopes for a relatively quick rebound.

Trading has been particularly erratic this week, as investors...