SYDNEY - Asian shares were dragged to near two-month lows on Monday as Chinese shares plunged resuming trading amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

The blue-chip index stumbling 7.8 percent to a 4-1/2 month trough. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index lost US$420 billion of its value.

E-Mini futures for the S&P500 jumped 0.6 percent during Asian hours on Monday pointing to a positive start for Wall Street after a rout last week.

The pan-region Euro Stoxx 50 futures also ticked up 0.1 percent in early European trades as did German DAX futures while London’s FTSE futures added 0.4 percent.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down for an eighth straight day to be off 0.9 percent at 527.39 points, its lowest since early December.

Japan’s Nikkei dived 1 percent to the lowest since November and Australia’s benchmark index ended 1.3 percent lower.

Japanese yen eased a tad but was still near a 3-1/2-week high against the dollar at 108.48. The euro was 0.1 percent lower at US$1.1084 and the pound slipped 0.3 percent to US$1.3162.

That left the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, a shade higher at 97.479.

Gold, which posted its best month in five in January, slipped 0.65 percent to US$1,579.5 an ounce, while yields on US debt came off lows.

Brent crude was last down 30 cents at US$56.32 a barrel after falling more than US$1 at one stage. US crude reversed its slide to be up 2 cents at US$51.58.