| schema:articleBody
| - Major European and US stock markets sank on Thursday as investors focussed on the rapid spread of novel coronavirus outside China and more turbulence for airlines. Asian equities had jumped following a surge on Wall Street on Wednesday, with confidence buoyed by global stimulus measures to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19. The dollar was lower against its main rivals after the Federal Reserve this week unexpectedly slashed US interest rates by half a percentage point, while the Japanese yen continued to benefit from its status as a haven in times of economic turmoil. The number of coronavirus cases in the world rose to 95,781, including 3,284 deaths, across 84 countries and territories by 1000 GMT Thursday, according to a report compiled by AFP from official sources. Since 1700 GMT Wednesday, 971 new contaminations and 39 new deaths were identified. "Investors once again begin to worry about the spread of the coronavirus outside China," said analyst Chris Beauchamp at trading firm IG. "The Western world is now following some of China's playbook, closing schools and declaring a state of emergency for example, but there is a sense here that this is too little, too late." After last week's rout -- the worst since the 2008-09 financial crisis -- equities had enjoyed a modest revival over the past few days as governments and central banks kick into gear in the face of recession warnings. However, trading screens flashed red once more in Europe, where the major indices were more than 2 percent lower in afternoon trading, and in the United States where the Dow gave up 2.5 percent at the opening bell. Share prices in European airlines swooped lower on gloomy industry forecasts on the back of coronavirus -- and after the collapse of British regional airline Flybe. The world's airline sector could lose up to $113 billion in revenue this year due to the impact of coronavirus, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned. In London, British Airways owner International Airlines Group saw its shares slide 5.1 percent to 424.30 pence. Elsewhere, Lufthansa stock shed 7.5 percent to 11.31 euros in Frankfurt, with the airline cancelling all flights to Israel after the country restricted entry of certain nationals over the virus. Shares in Air France-KLM slumped 9.6 percent to 5.63 euros in Paris. While the worldwide death and infected toll continues to rise, China -- the centre of the outbreak -- is slowly grinding back to life after weeks of lockdown and quarantine that have battered the economic superpower. In a bid to support economic growth, the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed interest rates, with similar moves coming from Australia and Malaysia's central banks. Canada later joined the party and AxiCorp's Stephen Innes said its reference to the cut being "in coordination with other G7 central banks and fiscal authorities" suggested the group was likely working more closely than thought. Traders are now keeping an eye on the European Central Bank's policy meeting next week as well as the Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Swiss National Bank. World oil prices were mixed despite growing indications of an OPEC output cut, at the cartel's gathering that is taking place in Vienna. Brent oil had sunk under $50 on Sunday, a level not breached since July 2017, as traders fretted over the virus sapping global demand. London - FTSE 100: DOWN 2.1 percent at 6,674.45 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 2.1 percent at 11,868.42 Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 2.3 percent at 5,337.58 Milan - FTSE MIB: DOWN 2.5 percent at 21,397.80 EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 2.2 percent at 3,344.76 New York - Dow: DOWN 2.5 percent at 26,402.47 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 21,329.12 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 2.1 percent at 26,767.87 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 2.0 percent at 3,071.68 (close) Dollar/yen: DOWN at 106.74 yen from 107.53 yen at 2200 GMT Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1196 from $1.1136 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2920 from $1.2872 Euro/pound: UP at 86.65 pence from 86.52 pence Brent Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $51.00 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $46.87 burs-rl/gd
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)