Asian markets close day with losses over turmoil in Afghanistan

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Major stock markets in Asia closed with losses on Tuesday over Delta variant concerns and turmoil in Afghanistan.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was down 1.04% or 40.65 points to close at 3,858.85.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange lost 98.72 points or 0.36% to close at 27,424.47 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, plummeted 1.67% or 435.59 points to 25,745.87.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was down 2% or 70.37 points, to 3,446.98 points.

- Europe

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, was down 0.21% to 473.24 as of 0940GMT.

Germany's DAX 30 was down 0.21% to 15,892.11, while Spain's IBEX 35 fell 0.68% to 8,866.30.

London's FTSE 100 climbed 0.09%, trading at 7,160 points.

The French CAC 40 also saw a 0.36% decrease, standing at 6,813.8, while Italy's FTSE MIB was up 0.63% to 26,282 points.