Asia shares fall on virus worries, despite strong China data

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly lower Wednesday despite data that pointed to a strong economic recovery in China, as worries lingered about the pandemic.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 0.9% to 29,178.80. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.8% to 6,790.70. South Korea's Kospi fell nearly 0.1% to 3,066.98. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.3% to 28,497.12, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.6% to 3,436.93.

A survey released Wednesday showed China’s factory activity rebounded in March from a three-month slowdown as export orders rose. The monthly index of manufacturing issued by the China’s statistics agency and an industry group rose to 51.9 from February’s 50.6 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity expanding.

Chinese manufacturing has recovered to above pre-pandemic levels in most industries but consumer and export demand have been slower to bounce back. Restrictions on trade in technology have also hurt exports, economists said.

“Let’s reiterate that the technology war is the No. 1 risk faced by China in 2021. Chinese companies continue to face difficulties in buying and selling technology parts, products and services from companies on the U.S. entity list, which can include non-U.S. companies,” said Iris Pang, chief economist at IG.

“Another risk, which is hopefully temporary, is the fragile recovery of export demand that comes from restrictive social distancing measures, and even lockdowns, in the U.S. and Europe,” Pang said in a commentary.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shares dropped 3.3% in Tokyo trading after one of its group companies, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co. said it may suffer losses estimated at $300 million related to a U.S. client. It did not give details.

Nomura Holdings shares continued...