Bird flu outbreak hits tourism-related shares in Asia<\/p>\n
Dow Jones, Singapore<\/p>\n
Travel and tourism-related stocks were sold across Asia
\nWednesday because of the spreading outbreak of bird flu, even
\nthough many analysts said investors might be overreacting.<\/p>\n
Airlines were lower across the board, with shares in Hong
\nKong's Cathay Pacific down 2.1 percent, Singapore Airlines off
\n2.6 percent, Japan Airlines System down 1 percent and Malaysian
\nAirline System sliding 4 percent.<\/p>\n
Thai Airways International sank a further 1.9 percent after
\nBangkok officials determined the virus had reached the capital
\nand declared the city a \"danger zone\". That brought the stock's
\ncumulative losses over the past five days to 9 percent.<\/p>\n
The selling spread to hotel, retail and even some consumer
\ngoods stocks around the region as investors worried that tourist
\narrivals and spending might slip. In Malaysia, for example,
\nResorts World was down 1.9 percent and Carlsberg Brewery
\nMalaysia, a beer manufacturer and distributor, had lost 1.8
\npercent.<\/p>\n
Many analysts continued to insist the flu probably wouldn't
\nhave a major impact on Asia's travel and tourism industries - and
\nthat drops in these sectors' shares might therefore be good
\nbuying opportunities.<\/p>\n
\"The concern and fear factor is much less versus SARS,\" said
\nCitigroup Asset Management's Anthony Muh.<\/p>\n
Some travel agents in the U.S., Britain and Asia reported
\npreliminary signs of a slowdown in tourist traffic to Asia,
\nincluding a drop in new bookings over the past few days,
\nparticularly to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.<\/p>\n
However, they said the change was small, and at least part of
\nthe drop-off might be due to seasonal factors such as the end of
\nLunar New Year holidays. Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways and Hong
\nKong's Dragonair said there had been no noticeable rise in
\ncancellations.<\/p>\n
And even if the bird flu does become a major health issue for
\nthe region, Asian governments went through a \"baptism of fire\"
\nduring SARS so \"they're in a better position to deal with this
\nthan they were before SARS,\" said ING's Philip Wickham.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, there was concern in the markets that the virus
\ncould mutate into a form that permitted human-to-human
\ntransmission, which would dramatically increase the risk of a
\npandemic in the region.<\/p>\n
Health officials said there had been no evidence of human-to-
\nhuman transmission so far, but that they couldn't rule out this
\npossibility if the virus mixed with a regular human influenza
\nstrain.<\/p>\n
Adding to the concern, some senior government officials in the
\nregion sounded much more worried about the virus than they were
\njust a few days ago. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who
\nhad previously described the flu as \"no big deal\", said Wednesday
\nthat it posed \"a grave economic threat\" and \"a serious public
\nhealth threat\".<\/p>\n
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said the bird flu epidemic
\nwas \"very serious\" and had the potential to hurt local and Asian
\ntourist trade and economies.<\/p>\n
Asian travel-related stocks were also hurt Wednesday by the
\nfact they had risen sharply in previous weeks - for example, Thai
\nAirways shares jumped 38 percent between late December and mid-
\nJanuary. This left the stocks vulnerable to profit-taking, and
\nthe bird flu news was taken by many investors as a cue for such
\nselling, traders said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bird-flu-outbreak-hits-tourism-related-shares-in-asia-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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