Bourse

Home page

Bourse

Stocks plunge over double-threat of crashing crude prices and coronavirus-driven recession fears

09 March 2020 19:31 (UTC +04:00)

Global stock markets have been plunging as the opening trading week was overshadowed on Monday by panic selling triggered by fears over the double threat of the coronavirus outbreak and an oil prices slump in the wake of the failure to reach an agreement on crude production cuts under the OPEC+ deal, APA reports citing Sputnik.

The UK's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX registered 7.06 per cent and 7.61 per cent nosedives, registering at 6,007 points and 10,662 points respectively, according to Reuters.

The Italian FTSE MIB plummeted by 10.18 per cent to 18,722 points as the embattled country remains the worst-hit by the coronavirus epidemic among European countries.

France’s CAC 40 was down 6.5 per cent, as Spain’s Ibex lost 6.3 per cent, while the FTSE Mib index plummet 10 per cent.

Trading on US stock exchanges was halted after opening as the S&P 500 nosedived 7 per cent, triggering an automatic 15 minute cutout, set in place after the financial crisis of 2008-9.

Benchmark ten-year yields dropped to a record low of 0.318 per cent and were last at 0.487 per cent.

The dollar index against a basket of currencies was down 0.4 per cent.

Peter Cardillo, Chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York was quoted by Reuters as saying:

“This is basically panic selling created by the sharp drop in oil prices. There’s a lot of fear in the market and if the price of oil continues to move lower it’s an indication that a global recession is not far away. We see that with gold, Treasury yields collapsing and the dollar as well. We’re not that far from entering into bear market territory another sign of economic decay.”

Earlier, stock markets in Asia Pacific also recorded tremendous losses.

Fears of the Covid-19 epidemic sparking a recession in Australia witnessed the share market closing at 7.4 per cent down.

In Japan, the Nikkei fell more than 5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Sen lost 3.9 per cent, and a drop of just slightly over 3 per cent was registered at the Shanghai stock exchange.

Japan's benchmark closed down 5.1 per cent, while Australia's lost 7.3 per cent and the Shanghai market in China was off 3 per cent.

Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at the trading platform Markets.com, was quoted by The Guardian as saying:

“This will be remembered as Black Monday. If you thought it couldn’t get any worse than the last fortnight, think again.”