February 13, 2020 / 12:00 PM
* SSEC -0.5%, CSI300 -0.5%, HSI -0.1%, HSCE -0.2%
* Epicentre's new cases break record after method tweak
* China says will cushion epidemic's economic impact
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG ,(Reuters) - Shares in China fell on Thursday, recoiling after a week-long streak of gains, after new cases of the coronavirus soared and death toll leapt at the epicentre of the outbreak.
At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% at 2,911.35 points. The blue-chip CSI300 index also fell 0.5%.
CSI300's financial sector sub-index fell 0.4%, the consumer staples sector was down 0.5%, the real estate index rose 2.7% and the healthcare sub-index dropped 1.4%.
Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 0.2%, while the Hang Seng Index edged down 0.1% to 27,784.07.
The smaller Shenzhen index fell 0.7% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by nearly 1%.
The Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus, reported a record rise in the daily death toll on Thursday under a new method for diagnosing cases, as health experts warned the epidemic could get worse before it gets better.
The rise in the death toll, at 242, more than doubled the prior provincial daily record of 103 set on Monday, while the number of new cases soared by 14,840 - also a daily record - to a total of 48,206 cases.
The head of the Communist Party in Hubei has been relieved of duty, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
China's ruling Communist Party said on Monday it would take steps to halt the spread of the coronavirus and counter the epidemic's economic impact, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Beijing is expected to further step up counter-cyclical measures as the impact of the epidemic on China's economy gradually emerges, Guosheng Securities said after the meeting.
Chinese policymakers have already implemented a series of measures to support an economy jolted by the outbreak.
Capital Economics said in a note on Wednesday it expects first-quarter economic growth in China to drop four percentage points to around 2% from a year earlier, and forecasts the economy will contract 2.5% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, before a likely bounce in spring if the outbreak abates.
Around the region, MSCI 's Asia ex-Japan stock index was flat, while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.1%.
The yuan was 0.12% weaker at 6.9804 per U.S. dollar.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is down 4.6%, while the CSI300 index is down 3.2%.
Reporting by Luoyan Liu and Noah Sin; Editing by Aditya Soni
Sumber : Reuters
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