Hong Kong/London CNN Business  — 

US stock futures and European markets advanced Wednesday as investors set aside renewed concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and looked past a sharp decline in the value of tech shares.

London’s FTSE 100 (UKX) was up 0.8% in early trade. Germany’s DAX (DAX) gained 0.9% and France’s CAC 40 (CAC40) was 0.6% higher. Nasdaq futures were up 1.7%, while Dow and S&P futures rose 0.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

The upward swing came after a tech sell-off battered US stocks on Tuesday and pushed the Nasdaq (COMP) into correction territory, reflecting a decline of 10% from its recent peak. The Nasdaq (COMP) closed down 4.1% on Tuesday.

The selling spilled over on Wednesday to Asia, where China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 1.9%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 (N225) fell 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (HSI) Index — which this week added big tech stocks Alibaba and Xiaomi to its list of components — lost 0.6%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was the region’s worst performer, dropping 2.1%.

SoftBank was one of the biggest losers in the region, falling nearly 3% in Tokyo as investors continued to worry over huge and risky bets the conglomerate has reportedly made on tech stocks. SoftBank has lost roughly $12 billion in market value this week.

Coronavirus fears continue to loom over markets. On Tuesday, drugmaker AstraZeneca (AZN) said it had temporarily paused a vaccine trial because of an unexplained illness in one of the participants.

“The optimism balloon floated by vaccine hopes has sprung yet another sizable leak,” Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp, said in a research note.

“Positive momentum in clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine was a pivotal contributor to the global equity rally over the summer,” he added.