Asian shares fall on fears virus outbreaks are rebounding

Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Monday on concern over a resurgence of coronavirus cases and pessimism after Wall Street posted its worst week in nearly three months. Load Error Benchmarks in Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai fell after China reported an outbreak of new infections in Beijing and reimposed precautions to prevent it from spreading. The illness has continued to spread in countries that make up about 60% of the global GDP, noted Robert Carnell, regional head of research Asia-Pacific at ING. Factory output rose 4.4% over a year earlier, up 0.5 percentage points from April’s rate, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday. That interrupted what had been a dramatic rally for the market as stocks sold off for three straight days as a rise in Covid-19 cases in the US and a discouraging economic outlook from the Federal Reserve dashed investors’ optimism that the economy will recover relatively quickly as states lift stay-at-home orders and businesses reopen. Despite the uncertainty, stocks have mounted a historic comeback in the past couple of months, with the S&P 500 rallying 44.5% between late March and Monday, erasing most of its losses tied to the pandemic.