Oil, equities hit by virus fearsAs the death toll from the Chinese epidemic jumped to 80 with those affected worldwide approaching 3,000, analysts said there were growing fears the crisis could become as bad as the SARS outbreak that hammered Asian markets in 2003. HONG KONG: Fears over the global economic impact of the deadly China virus sent oil prices plunging more than 2% on Monday to extend last week's sell-off, while safe-haven assets including the yen and gold rallied. As the death toll from the Chinese epidemic jumped to 80 with those affected worldwide approaching 3,000, analysts said there were growing fears the crisis could become as bad as the SARS outbreak that hammered Asian markets in 2003. The move comes during the Lunar New Year holiday when hundreds of millions of people criss-cross the country and spend billions of dollars. Most regional markets were closed for the Chinese New Year break but Tokyo was open and fell 1.9% by the break.

Source: Bangkok Post January 27, 2020 03:45 UTC