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| - Oil prices slid Wednesday after Saudi Arabia and Gulf partner UAE stepped up a price war with plans to flood the global markets while an early rally in equities evaporated as investors nervously awaited a US relief plan as the coronavirus outbreak was labelled a pandemic. Crude dived after UAE, the fourth OPEC producer, joined number one Saudi Arabia in plans to hike supplies and raise their oil production capacity by millions of barrels a day in response to Russia's refusal to agree output cuts to support prices. A day after the kingdom said it would boost supplies by at least 2.5 million barrels per day to 12.3 million bpd in April, Riyadh said it will further boost capacity to 13 million bpd. UAE national oil company ADNOC said it was ready to raise output by one million bpd to 4.0 million bpd and increase capacity to 5.0 million bpd. Markets had been showing signs of much-needed stability in early trade following two days of wild gyrations, thanks to a pledge by US President Donald Trump to unveil measures to counter the effects of the disease on the world's biggest economy. Crude had provided support, rising for a second day after Monday's massive meltdown. But jittery investors slowly sold out as Wednesday wore on and then slumped deep into the red. Both main crude contracts fell more than three percent, having been up as much as five percent earlier in the day. The price war follows Russia's rejection last week of a Saudi-led proposal to deepen production cuts to support oil prices as demand falls due to the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Production cuts by Saudi-led OPEC and an alliance of producer nations including Russia has helped prop up oil prices the past couple years in the face of rising production by the United States. Wednesday's U-turn on oil markets spurred a similar move in equities markets. Asian stock markets had been well in positive territory in morning trading but finished lower. London stocks ended 1.4 percent despite the Bank of England slashing its key interest rate to a record low 0.25 percent and the government pledging fiscal stimulus worth £30 billion ($39 billion, 34.4 billion euros). Paris and Frankfurt also slipped, while Milan added 0.3 percent as the Italian government promising even more stimulus. The main European markets are now firmly in bear market territory, having lost more than 20 percent of their value in a quick period under the onslaught of concern over the coronavirus. US markets also moved sharply lower Wednesday, with the Dow dropping more than 5 percent as the World Health Organisation called the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. "This negative bias has been facilitated by reports that there is indecision in Washington still about the fiscal stimulus that should be enacted to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus," said market analyst Patrick J. O'Hare at Briefing.com "The president would like the payroll tax to be suspended but reportedly there is bipartisan disagreement over that idea. Instead, lawmakers are said to be interested in more targeted economic measures," he added. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump is "very much focused" on the package that could include a payroll tax cut, among other options, as data showed that nearly three-quarters of US firms are suffering supply disruptions due to the coronavirus epidemic. "Government intervention is seen as a sign of weakness by traders as they feel if the administration needs to take such action, the situation must be dire," said analyst David Madden at CMC Markets UK. New York - Dow: DOWN 4.0 percent at 24,009.88 points London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.4 percent at 5,876.52 (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.4 percent at 10,438.68 (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 4,610.25 (close) EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.4 percent at 2,897.77 West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.1 percent at $33.64 per barrel Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 1.8 percent at $36.57 per barrel Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.3 percent at 19,416.06 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.6 percent at 25,231.61 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 2,968.52 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1275 from $1.1281 at 2200 GMT Dollar/yen: DOWN at 105.02 yen from 105.64 yen Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2866 from $1.2911 Euro/pound: UP at 87.64 pence from 87.37 pence burs-rl/har
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