Shares tumbled in Asia on Thursday as concern over the impact of the virus outbreak in China deepened.
Shares also retreated in India and Southeast Asia.
Mainland Chinese markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
In other news, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. said its operating profit for the last quarter fell 33.7% from a year earlier.
But it predicted earnings will improve in 2020, driven by a gradually stabilizing computer chip market and increasing 5G smartphone sales.
Samsung, the world’s biggest producer of smartphones and semiconductors, has suffered a sharp drop in profit over the past year with an industry-wide glut forcing chip-makers to slash prices to clear out inventory.
Overnight, stocks lost momentum on Wall Street as investors tuned in to a news conference by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
