Global markets climb as coronavirus fears ease

06 Apr 2020

Coronavirus Global stocks rallied again on Monday on hopes that the measures being taken around the world to fight coronavirus are having an effect.

In Asia, mainland China’s markets were closed for a public holiday, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.1%, Japan’s Topix gained 2.8% and South Korea’s Kospi was up 2.7%.  Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 4.1%.

Meanwhile in Europe, London’s FTSE went up 3%, Germany’s DAX jumped 4% and France’s CAC 3.4%. The European-wide Euro Stoxx 600 rose 2.6%.

In addition, S&P 500 futures indicated the Wall Street index to rise 3.3% when the U.S. opens for trading.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mansoor Mohi-uddin, a senior macro strategist at NatWest Markets, said: “Everyone is looking at U.S. stock futures. “If [futures] are rising in the place where the outbreak is at its worst now — that’s seen as a good thing.”

The rally in the markets comes as some European governments are preparing to gradually ease the lockdown restrictions, meaning economies could once again start activity.

The number of daily coronavirus fatalities dropped in Italy, Spain, Germany and France over the weekend. Those countries also had fewer coronavirus infection rates.

The UK also saw a drop, from 708 deaths between Friday and Saturday to 619 deaths, over the last two days.

As global stock markets showed an upward swing on Monday, oil prices slipped after Saudi-Russian output discussions showed no immediate signs of progress. The two oil-producing nations are currently locked into a price war.

Both major oil benchmarks fell by 12% after the breakdown of talks.

 

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