Japan and Skorea markets open down, Taiwan up

Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday, with only Taiwan seeing a slight increase among South Korea and Japan. Stocks in Tokyo fell 3.8% during morning trading after Tokyo's governor requested its residents to stay at home this weekend and urged companies to let employees work from home.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 closed the morning session at, 18,803.29 down 743.34 points.

Tokyo's Governor Yuriko Koike made the request at an evening news conference on Wednesday after the city reported 41 new cases of t he coronavirus on Wednesday - the highest single day increase so far.

South Korea's market opened slightly lower than the previous day's closing.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell by 0.38% within the first 90 minutes of the trading.

Taiwan stock market rose slightly as Taiwan's main stock index rose 12 points or 0.12% to 9656.75.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks scored their first back-to-back gains Wednesday since a brutal sell-off began five weeks ago, but much of an early rally faded late in the day as a last-minute dispute threatened to hold up a $2 trillion economic rescue package in Congress.