World shares mixed as Asia tracks Wall St, Europe rebounds

European shares have bounced back after Asian benchmarks extended their slide

European shares bounced back Tuesday, while Asian benchmarks extended their slide.

Germany’s DAX rose 1.1% to 12,679.53 and the CAC 40 in Paris picked up 0.5% to 4,816.09. Britain’s FTSE edged 0.1% higher to 5,807.31. U.S. futures were little changed, with the contract for the S&P 500 unchanged and the future for the Dow industrials down 0.1%.

China-U.S. tensions and coronavirus concerns have cast a shadow after months of gains that have taken shares to new record highs after the meltdowns seen during the spring, analysts said.

“Notably, the Covid-19 noise is increasing in the UK and Europe as summer partying has left case numbers surging, threatening more widespread lockdowns yet again,” Jeffrey Hally of Oanda said in a commentary.

He added that, “one of the dangers to the global recovery, would be the imposition again, of national level lock-downs in major developed economies. That risk appears to be rising, unfortunately.”

In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng lost 1% to 23,716.85 and the Kospi in South Korea sank 2.4% to 2,332.59. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 0.7% to 5,784.10 and the Shanghai Composite index skidded 1.3% to 3,274.30.

Shares in India, Taiwan and Southeast Asia also fell.

Stocks of some big banks fell after a report alleged that several are profiting from illicit dealings with criminal networks. The report helped drive a massive sell-off across global markets on Monday and its impact was still reverberating Tuesday in Asia.

The report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said leaked government documents show that the banks, including JPMorgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon, continued moving illicit funds even after being warned of potential criminal prosecutions.

The documents were obtained by BuzzFeed News and shared with the ICIJ.

Hong Kong-traded shares in HSBC Holdings PLC skidded to their lowest level since 1995, closing 2.1% lower. Shares in its smaller rival, Standard Chartered PLC, dropped 2.3%.

Other banks also have come under pressure on the assumption some may have served as intermediaries in transactions.

Airlines shares also declined Tuesday on concerns that a resurgence of travel restrictions related to the pandemic may further damage the travel sector. Korean Air Lines Co. lost 2.4%, China Eastern Airlines’ swooned 5.7% and Singapore Airlines lost 1.8%.

Wall Street has been shaky this month, and the S&P 500 has dropped 8.4% since hitting a record Sept. 2 amid a long list of worries for investors.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% on Monday to 3,281.06 for its fourth session of losses, the longest losing streak since stocks were selling off in February on recession worries.

Investors are worried that stocks have gotten too expensive at a time when coronavirus counts are still worsening, Congress is unable to deliver more aid for the economy, U.S.-China tensions are rising and a contentious U.S. election is approaching.

The likelihood that Congress may soon deliver more aid to the economy after extra weekly unemployment benefits and other stimulus expired has been diminishing.

In other trading U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 25 cents to $39.79 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost $1.78 on Monday to $39.54 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 23 cents to $41.67 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar slipped to 104.52 Japanese yen from 104.65 late Monday. The euro weakened to $1.1742 from $1.1769.