Asian shares fall, trading muted with Good Friday holidays

A currency trader passes by screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 15, 2022. Asian shares fell in muted trading as markets remained closed for Good Friday and other holidays. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Asian shares fell in muted trading as markets were closed for Good Friday and other holidays.

Benchmarks declined in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Sydney, Sydney, Manila, Bangkok and Hong Kong were among markets observing holidays on Friday. U.S. and European markets also were closed.

Shutdowns in major Chinese cities due to coronavirus outbreaks and the war in Ukraine are weighing on sentiment.

“The Russia-Ukraine conflict inflation effects are now more meaningful than direct military developments in a market sense. These consequences have fabricated an uncertain environment that could keep investors wary,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“It should be a quiet session given the Good Friday holidays,” he added.

The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday that Russia’s war against Ukraine was darkening the economic prospects for most of the world’s countries and reaffirmed the danger high inflation presents to the global economy.

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