Shares fell in Asia on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 2.1% to 21,948.23, while in Australia, the S&P ASX/200 dropped 0.8% to 6,657.90. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 26,491.52. In South Korea, where 334 new cases of the virus were reported, the Kospi dropped 1% to 2,056.76. The central bank downgraded its growth estimate for 2020 to 2.1% from 2.3% and said the virus outbreak would have a short-term impact on business activity, after growth fell to its slowest in a decade last year. The Bank of Korea kept its key policy rate unchanged, at its current record low 1.25%. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.2% to 2,993.15, while shares fell in most of Southeast Asia, AP reported. Energy companies led the selling Wednesday as the price of U.S. crude oil fell 2.3% on Wednesday. By midday Thursday, benchmark crude had shed 73 cents to $48.00 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, it lost $1.17 to settle at $48.73 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, shed 75 cents to $52.06 per barrel. It dropped $1.52 to close at $53.43 a barrel in London. Gold jumped $10.60 to $1,653.70 per ounce, silver rose 24 cents to $18.07 per ounce and copper fell 2 cents to $2.58 per pound. The dollar fell to 110.05 Japanese yen from 110.40 yen on Wednesday. The euro strengthened to $1.0906 from $1.0884.