Asia’s big economies already feeling impact of virus outbreak

A woman wearing a protective face mask walking in Wuhan the epicentre of the Covid-19 epidemic in China's central Hubei province. - AFP

HONG KONG/TOKYO (Bloomberg):Key gauges for manufacturing in Australia and Japan fell while early export orders for South Korea showed a slump in Chinese demand. Data from China showed car sales sank 92 per cent in the first half of February while its Commerce Ministry said trade and inbound investment would take an increasing hit from the epidemic.

The warning signals come as finance chiefs from the world’s 20 biggest economies meet this weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the first time since the virus outbreak.