Italy, Spain impose tradin­g curbs, bannin­g short-sellin­g of dozens of stocks to stem market routLONDON: World stocks bounced off their lows on Friday on hopes of more central bank stimulus and government spending, but were still set for their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, with coronavirus panic-selling hitting nearly every asset class. European stock markets rose on hopes of a coordinated stimulus package from world governments after several sessions of sustained, heavy losses on expectations of a global recession that could be prolonged. US stock futures also pointed to a higher open, with Nasdaq futures up 5%. But the MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, hit a three-year low in Asian hours and is down nearly 16% this week so far – its worst run since October 2008 when Lehman Brothers’ collapse triggered the global crisis. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan wobbled 0.1% higher by late afternoon after falling more than 5% in morning trade.

Source: The Express Tribune March 13, 2020 14:37 UTC