European
equities fell in Monday’s trading, after a possible oil price war between Saudi
Arabia and Russia hit global markets, raising fears that the global economy is
sliding into recession on the back of the coronavirus epidemic.
As
of 11:35 GMT, the Euro STOXX 600 fell 6.54 percent to 343.02, after touching
the lowest level since January 2019 at 341.42. That forced European stocks to
enter a bear market, which means falling 20 percent
In
Italy, FTSE MIB index slumped 10.18 percent at 18,686.10, recording the lowest
level since January 2019, and marking the largest decline among in European shares
at press time.
The
Italian index was affected by the rise in the number of cases of Mers-CoV to
7,375, bringing the number of cases to 25 percent up from yesterday.
Italy
ranks second in terms of death toll after China. Italian authorities have
imposed a quarantine on millions of people in northern Italy in the latest step
to contain the country's new coronavirus, which will impose strict restrictions
on entry and exit to a large area in northern Italy.
France
CAC 40 was 6.53 percent down to 4,806.77. In Germany, DAX descended 6.57
percent to 10,783.70 points. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 6.48 percent to 6,043.51.
The
sharp fall in European shares come as a result of last Friday's meeting between
OPEC and non-OPEC producers, most notably Russia, in reaching an agreement on
deepening the current supply cut agreement, which will last until the end of
the month.
In
addition to fears associated to the rapid
spread of Coronavirus, as the number of people living with the Chinese virus
has risen to more than 110,000 worldwide, with the fact that its spread extends
to more countries and causes further economic damage.
Investors'
reluctance to take risk comes as concerns grow that the coronavirus outbreak
could have severe negative repercussions on the global economy.
Meanwhile, the dollar
index, which measures the performance of six major currencies against the U.S
dollar, traded at 95.05 after slumping to its lowest level since January 2019
at 94.65.