Asian stock markets in red at Thursday close

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Stock markets in Asia closed Thursday on a low note amid China's weak manufacturing data and fading hopes for peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was off 21.64 points, or 0.59%, to 3,646 points at 1010 GMT.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange decreased 205.8 points, or 0.73%, to close at 27,821 points.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange dropped 14.4 points, or 0.44%, to finish at 3,252.

Chinese manufacturing activity contracted in March amid a surge in coronavirus cases following four consecutive months of growth, according the National Bureau of Statistics data on Thursday.

China’s manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) slipped to 49.5 in March, down 0.7 percentage points from a month ago.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, went down 170 points, or 0.76%, to 22,062.

India's Sensex benchmark declined 122.5 points, or 0.21%, to 58,561 at Thursday’s close.

The Singapore index fell 34.1 points, or 0.99%, to end the day at 3,408.