Asia stocks slightly lower as IMF warns of severe global recession

Asia stocks were slightly lower seeing little changed on Wednesday as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

Mainland Chinese stocks dipped on the day, with the Shanghai composite 0.57 percent lower to about 2,811.17 while the Shenzhen composite shed 0.532 percent to around 1,736.13. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.8 percent , as of its final hour of trading.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.45 percent lower at 19,550.09 shares of Fanuc slipped 2.54 percent while FamilyMart dropped 5.18 percent. The Topix index ended slightly higher at 1,434.07.

Shares in Australia finished their trading day in negative territory, as the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.39% to 5,466.70.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index dipped 0.12%.

Markets in South Korea were closed on Wednesday as the country heads to the polls for parliamentary elections.