Asian shares mostly slip amid lingering omicron worries

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly slipped Wednesday, as worries lingered about the coronavirus omicron variant's potential damage to the regional economy following mixed cues from Wall Street.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.6% to finish at 28,906.88. South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.9% to 2,993.29, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.2% to 7,509.80. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.1% to 23,033.49, and the Shanghai Composite shed 0.9% to 3,597.00.

Although Asia has relatively few reported infection cases of the omicron variant compared to the U.S. and Europe, fears are growing that omicron will spread quickly once it gets going. The vaccination rate is about 80% in Japan, but booster shots have barely gotten started.

“The wider point is that regardless of how ‘variant risks’ play out, the process of emerging from the COVID tunnel will be fraught with more heat than light,” meaning problems such as “impediments to unfettered global travel,” which will hobble any recovery, Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank said in a report.

Wall Street had a wobbly day of trading that pulled the S&P 500 just below its latest record high. The benchmark index slipped 0.1% after wavering between modest gains and losses. The slight loss snapped a four-day winning streak for the index, which set an all-time high on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq fell 0.6%.

Roughly 60% of the companies in the S&P 500 rose, but a slide in technology, health care and communication stocks outweighed gains in industrial firms, household goods makers and elsewhere in the market. Small company stocks also fell, pulling the Russell 2000 index 0.7% lower.

“We did have four straight days of upward movement,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA....