Italy reported its lowest daily toll in two weeks, while Spanish officials said deaths fell for the third straight day and France reported its lowest daily toll in a week. “Focus in markets will now turn to the path out of lockdown and to what extent containment measures can be lifted without risking a second wave of infections,” said National Australia Bank’s Tapas Strickland. “If that does occur, it’s likely that we’re able to control the downturn from a depressionary scenario into a recessionary scenario”. The relatively upbeat news lifted Asian markets, which shrugged off data on Friday showing a massive drop in US jobs in March that added to news that millions of people had applied for unemployment benefits. Tokyo, Sydney and Manila all rose more than 4%, while Seoul, Singapore and Jakarta gained almost 4%.

Source: The Express Tribune April 06, 2020 13:17 UTC