Asian shares near 1-wk highs but Delta woes mount
By Swati Pandey
Reuters
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares advanced to one-week highs on Wednesday, led largely by strong U.S. corporate earnings, although the mood remained cautious as the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus clouds the global economic outlook.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.1% to the highest since July 26.
Japan's Nikkei was in the red as were Chinese shares with the blue-chip index off 0.2%.
Australian shares were a touch firmer but sentiment was marred by an unabating rise in Delta infections in Sydney, the country's biggest city.