Coronavirus Wreaks Havoc In Global Markets

Experts fear there may be one more leg of fall if the virus becomes an epidemic in the US

- Vishav

It all started in China at the rise of the year 2020. A virus brought a whole nation to stand still, and then began its spread towards the rest of the world. Stock markets crashed. Fake news and rumours spread. People panicked and started hoarding essential goods, and then locking themselves in their homes. It may all sound like the plot of a blockbuster science-fiction Hollywood film, but this is what the world has been going through with the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus - a new virus whose cure and antidote are not known.

Towards the later half of March, the virus had infected close to 2,50,000 people across the world killing around 10,000. The second-biggest casualty, after human life, in this epidemic is perhaps people’s wealth, irrespective of which country they belong to as stock markets crashed dropping as much as 30 per cent by the third week of March, erasing one-third of people’s wealth in the equity markets.

According to S&P Global, the total return in euros from the S&P Europe Broad Market Index, which tracks the share prices of more than 1,500 listed European companies, has fallen 33.3 per cent since Jan. 1. The S&P BMI for the real estate sector has fallen 38.4 per cent.

From the levels of close to 30,000, Dow Jones, a stock market index that measures the stock performance of 30 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States, dropped to the levels of 19,000. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index nosedived to levels of 16,000 from the highs of 24,000. UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 30 per cent while Italy’s and France’s benchmark indices fell even sharply by almost 40 per cent. In India, both NIFTY and Sensex fell over 30 per cent.

According to former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, the largest turmoil post spread of COVID-19 in Europe and North America is in the stock markets.