Asian markets mostly post losses at Wednesday close

ANKARA

Stock markets in Asia closed on Wednesday with a mostly choked risk appetite amid developments related to the omicron variant of coronavirus.

While Japan, South Korea, and Thailand reinstated entry restrictions and quarantine measures after relaxing them in the fall, China imposed lockdowns on some of its cities to curb infection.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, fell 13.7 points, or 0.36%, to close at 3,769 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange decreased 162.3 points, or 0.56%, to 28,906.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, declined 194,02 points, or 0.83%, to 23,086.

China’s Shanghai stock exchange dropped 33.11 points, or 0.91%, to 3,597 points.

The Indian Sensex benchmark climbed 25.6 points, or 0.04%, to 57,923, while the Singapore index was up 8.6 points, or 0.27%, to 3,137.