Flu continues to weigh on markets

Asian shares have fallen in Tuesday trading, following earlier falls on Wall Street, as the swine flu outbreak continues to weigh on global markets.

Japan's main Nikkei index was down 151 points, or 1.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 162 points, or 1%, lower.

The declines come after the Dow Jones index shed 0.6% in New York on Monday.

"We had finally begun to see a bottom for the global economy and that has been ruined by pigs," said analyst Tsuyoshi Segawa of Shinko Securities.

However, other analysts said some investors were using the flu outbreak as an excuse to cash-in profits by selling shares that have risen in recent weeks.

'Weakened position'

Shares in airlines continued to fall on Tuesday, as investors fear people will put a halt to global travel until the outbreak is contained, or else governments will enforce their own flight bans.

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Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific saw its shares 1.7% lower in afternoon trading, after dropping 8% on Monday.

In Taiwan, shares in China Airlines were down 4% while Eva Airways dropped 7%. Both had fallen 7% the day before.

"Airlines are already in a weakened position with the global crisis sapping demand for corporate travel," said Stone Lin, an airline analyst at Yuanta Securities in Taiwan.

"With sentiment so weak, and worsened by the swine flu issue, it's unlikely anyone is going to go rushing to book holidays or corporate travel, which means the second half of this year won't be pretty for most airlines."

The swine flu virus can no longer be contained, a World Health Organization (WHO) official has said.

WHO Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda said countries should now instead focus on mitigating the effects of the virus.

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