LONDON / TOKYO — Global stocks drifted lower on Thursday as an increase in new coronavirus cases crushed hopes of a swift world economic comeback from the pandemic.

Several US states including Oklahoma, where President Donald Trump plans a campaign rally on Saturday, reported a surge in new coronavirus infections.

The daily count of infections also hit a new benchmark in California and Texas, while around 400 workers tested positive for the virus at an abattoir in northern Germany, prompting the closure of local schools.

MSCI’s broadest index of World shares was 0.2 percent lower. The pan-European STOXX 600 was 1.1 percent lower, as its rally earlier in the week petered out.

Shares in Wirecard plunged by 60 percent in Frankfurt trading, wiping 8 billion euros off its market worth after the firm’s auditor refused to sign off its 2019 accounts over a missing US$2.1 billion. Creditors could call in loans as soon as Friday.

S&P 500 mini futures EScv1 were 0.6 percent down.

Chinese Bright Spot

China's blue-chip CSI300 shares were a bright spot, earlier adding 0.7 percent, helped by reassurances from its central bank governor that the world's second largest economy would maintain ample financial system liquidity in the second half of 2020 as the economy recovers.

Euro zone bonds hardly budged, even as the European Central Bank announced record demand for its new round of cheap loans, with the strong take-up expected to support the bond market.

Italian yields slipped slightly, with 10-year yields falling to a new low since late March of 1.33 percent. They were last down 3 basis points to 1.35 percent.

British government bond yields touched their highest since June 10 after the Bank of England increased its bond-buying programme by a further 100 billion pounds (US$125 billion) to help revive the economy, but sharply slowed the pace of its purchases.

 “In the near-term, we have had a lot of risk-off factors including Bolton and geopolitical tensions in Asia,” said Masahiko Loo, portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein in Tokyo.

In currency markets, the safe-haven Japanese yen earlier touched a six-day high of 106.70 in Asian trading and was last trading neutral at 107.

The Norwegian crown was up 0.6 percent versus the dollar at 9.4560 and by 0.5 percent versus the euro at 10.6430.

The euro was also hardly changed against the greenback, at US$1.1250.

The British pound remained firmly in negative territory despite the Bank of England increasing its bond-buying scheme. It was 0.4 percent down against the dollar at US$1.2508 and 0.4 percent down against the euro at 89.85 pence.

The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent to US$0.6864, hit by worse than expected employment data.

Australia’s unemployment rate jumped to the highest in about two decades in May as nearly a quarter of a million people lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic-driven shutdowns.

Oil prices recovered from losses earlier in the session, with US crude futures CLv1 up 15 cents to US$38.11 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent LCOc1 added 34 cents to US$41.05 a barrel.

In commodity markets, gold was up 0.3 percent at US$1,721.04 per ounce.