(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks were set for a mixed start to trading Friday amid renewed concern about the impact of the coronavirus. The dollar rose with Treasuries and gold climbed to a seven-year high as investors sought havens.
Futures were little changed in Japan and Australia, and dropped in Hong Kong. U.S. stocks slipped and the Dollar Index climbed to the highest in almost three years as the rise in virus cases outside of China hit sentiment. The yen extended its fall past 112 per dollar and the yuan weakened.
Anxiety has crept back into global markets this week amid a spike in coronavirus infections outside China and a slew of fresh warnings from companies on the pathogen’s impact. That’s threatening gains that propelled global equities to a record high earlier this month and reigniting appetite for haven assets from Treasuries to the dollar.
“The second order impacts, the supply chain impacts -- that’s really where the rising concern is in the markets,” Mona Mahajan, a strategist at Allianz (DE:ALVG) Global Investors, told Bloomberg TV. “It’s very feasible that we get some volatility as we move forward.”
Elsewhere, oil jumped to the highest in almost four weeks as U.S. crude exports surged and the expansion of domestic inventories slowed dramatically.
Here are some key events coming up:
- Earnings season rolls on, with results from Deere & Co. set for Friday.
- Euro-area PMI and inflation data are also due Friday.
- Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs are due to meet Feb. 22-23 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and are expected to discuss efforts to support growth amid the coronavirus threat.
Stocks
- The S&P 500 Index fell 0.4% on Thursday.
- Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 were little changed.
- Hang Seng futures earlier dropped 0.6%.
- Futures on Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index were flat.
- The yen slipped 0.7% to 112.17 per dollar.
- The offshore yuan declined 0.5% to 7.0454 per dollar.
- The Dollar Index rose 0.2%.
- The euro slipped 0.2% to $1.0786.
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries sank five basis points to 1.52%.
- West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.9% to $53.78 a barrel.
- Gold strengthened 0.5% to $1,619.80 an ounce.