European, Tokyo stocks slump as virus takes hold outside China

European and Tokyo stock markets slumped once again on Thursday as new coronavirus infections surged outside China.

While markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong both closed higher, Europe was a sea of red with London, Frankfurt, Paris and Italy all down around 2.0 per cent approaching half-way mark. Tokyo closed with a loss of 2.1 per cent. Oil prices also tumbled more than two per cent, while yen gained as trers turned to a tritional haven in times of ecomic turbulence.

" stock market sell-off has picked up pace once more, with European markets... heavily in red on continued fears of a global coronavirus pandemic," remarked Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG tring group. "What was a centralised focus on Italian containment efforts has w turned into a European-wide crisis as new cases pop up throughout continent."

President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said France was preparing for a jump in number of coronavirus cases, ding "we are going to have to deal with it as best we can". Visiting staff at a Paris hospital where first French person carrying new coronavirus died on Tuesday, Macron ded: "We are facing a crisis, an epidemic that is coming."

President Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to ease concerns, telling reporters that he did t think it "inevitable" that COVID-19 would continue to spre throughout United States. But in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday called on schools to close nationwide from Monday for several weeks to prevent spre.

Around 2,800 people have died in China and more than 80,000 have been infected. re have been more than 50 deaths and 3,600 cases in dozens of or countries, raising fears of a pandemic. Investors are growing increasingly fearful about ecomic impact with several big companies including Apple, Microsoft and drinks giant Dio expecting sales to be hit.

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virus continues to spre meanwhile, with Brazil reporting Latin America's first case, and Greece, Georgia, rway and Pakistan following suit. Shanghai's stock market neless closed up 0.1 per cent as virus appeared to be easing in China, while Hong Kong reversed earlier losses to end up 0.3 per cent.

Still, observers warned of worse to come for markets."re is still so much more uncertainty around how coronavirus is going to spre, particularly in US," said Katie Koch at Goldman Sachs Asset Manment. panic-selling has seen investors rush into haven investments, with yield on 10-year and 30-year Treasuries around record lows, while oil is being battered by concerns about plunging demand. Both main crude contracts are down about one-fifth this year and were sitting at more than 12-month lows Thursday.