English
• People's Bank of China: "The stock crash had irrational or even panic elements, triggered by the herd behavior"
• Beijing accuses the US of spreading panic when it comes to the coronavirus
• The European markets closed yesterday up
Stock markets in mainland China fell sharply on Monday, on the first trading day after the Chinese New Year holiday, which coincided with the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic, MarketWatch notes.
The Shanghai Composite index fell 7.72% to 2,746.61 points, the lowest level since February 2019, while the Shenzhen Composite fell 8.41% to 1,609 points after the stock markets opened the trading day with downward gaps of almost 9%.
The Chinese stock exchanges had been closed since January 24, during which time more than 300 people died from the flu virus, which has been declared a global medical emergency and spread to over 24 other countries and regions, raising fears about its impact on the global economy.
The total death toll from coronavirus in China rose to 361 on Sunday, compared with 17 on January 23, when it was the last trading session in Chinese markets.
Michael Every, a strategist at Rabobank, said in a note, according to Reuters: "You wanted to know what a real decoupling from China would look like or an economic mental experiment along the lines of < < What would happen if everyone stayed home and weren't buying anything > >? Well, here you are. "
The trading of the yuan resumed from the lowest level this year, according to the source mentioned above. It dropped 1.2% during Monday's session and exceeding the psychological level level of seven yuan per dollar, to close the day at an exchange rate of 7.0257.
Oil, iron ore and copper traded in Shanghai fell by the maximum daily fluctuation limit, tracking the global price drops.
"The new virus has created concern, because it is spreading rapidly, not much is known about it, and the drastic reaction by the authorities is likely to affect economic growth", Reuters said.
Iris Pang, an economist for China at ING, said: "It is something that will take a while (...) It is uncertain whether and how many of the factory workers will return (ed. note: to work). We have not yet seen the corporate earnings since the coronavirus spread. Restaurants and retailers may have very low sales."
More than 2,500 stocks traded on the Chinese markets reached the lower daily limit, in the first trading session of the week.
Copper has dropped to its lowest level in more than three years, reaching its daily fluctuation limit of 7%, while aluminum, zinc and lead fell by more than 4%.
"The stock crash had irrational or even panic elements, triggered by the herd behavior", People's Bank of China commented in a local newspaper, after the markets closed, according to Reuters.
On the other hand, the Central Bank of China has implemented a series of measures to support the stock markets, the most important being the injection of 1.2 trillion yuan ($ 173.8 billion) into the money markets, through repo operations, the largest cash inflow in the financial system since 2004.
Also, it unexpectedly cut the interest rate by 10 basis points for these short-term financing facilities.
In addition, the Chinese market regulator limited short-selling operations and asked fund managers not to sell shares unless they are facing redemption requests from investors, according to Reuters sources.
Beijing also said it would help companies that produce essential goods to resume business as soon as possible, according to the state-run CCTV media station.
Yesterday, China accused the United States that, instead of providing aid, by restricting travel and evacuating US citizens from the country, it is spreading panic over the epidemic.
Relations between the first two powers of the world had just begun to improve after a long two-year trade war.
Washington has "continuously manufactured and spread panic," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told reporters, noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued recommendations against trade restrictions and travel to China.
"Developed countries like the United States, which have strong epidemic prevention capabilities and facilities, are actually the ones that have led to the imposition of excessive restrictions that go against WHO recommendations", the minister added, pointing out that countries should judge the situation reasonably and on a scientific basis.
Cities like Wuhan, where the virus came from, remain isolated, and China faces international isolation, and according to Reuters, analysts are beginning to believe the impact will be greater than the one caused by the 2002 Acute Severe Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic of 2002-2003.
The drops of the Chinese markets did not affect those in other time zones. Yesterday, at 6:00 pm, the pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.38%, while the DAX 30 of the Frankfurt stock exchange posted an advance of 0.6% and for the FTSE 100 of the London market the gain was 0.89%.
Across the Atlantic, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.21%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite Technology Index was up 1.49%.
• The coronavirus, worldwide alert
More than 360 deaths caused by the coronavirus have been recorded in China and more than 20,000 people have been detected as carriers of the virus internationally, according to the latest report. About 60 million people are targeted for travel bans in Chinese cities, and researchers are trying to create a vaccine to stop the spread of the disease.
The World Health Organization has declared an international public emergency because of the coronavirus epidemic, according to the New York Times.
The WHO said that the coronavirus infection is a global medical emergency because the risk of infection has spread outside China, where the virus came last month. At the same time, the Organization announced that all Member States of the United Nations must treat this epidemic seriously.
The United States announced on Friday several exceptional measures targeting citizens who have been to China, especially if they visited the province of Hubei, where the outbreak of coronavirus began. On Sunday, authorities barred all foreign nationals who have been to China over the last 14 days from visiting the United States.
As for US citizens, if they have been to the Hubei Province for the last 14 days, they will be quarantined for up to two weeks upon returning to the United States. In the case of to Americans coming from a Chinese province other than Hubei, they will be asked to stay in a "self-imposed quarantine" under surveillance, AFP reports.
Russia also announced yesterday that it will resort to expelling foreign nationals infected with the new coronavirus, after last week it decided to close its border with China and reduce the ties between the two countries, AFP reports.
The new coronavirus "has been added to the list of particularly dangerous diseases, which allows us to proceed with the expulsion of infected foreigners and to put in place special measures such as isolation and quarantine," said Russian Prime Minister Mihail Mishustin in a government meeting.
The Chinese government has banned the burial of deceased people infected with the coronavirus. Their families will not be allowed to bury the victims where they want and will not be allowed to hold a wake, according to a strict protocol, presented by the authorities, on how the corpses are to be handled, Reuters reports.
The human remains of those infected with the new coronavirus will only be cremated at the crematoriums authorized by Chinese officials and located near the place where the death occurred. Also, the bodies may not be transported between different regions and will not be embalmed for burial, according to a protocol issued by the National Council of Health, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security. In addition, the bodies must be disinfected and placed in bags that will be sealed by forensic doctors and once sealed, may no longer be opened.
The incubation period of the new coronavirus which has appeared in China, respectively from the exposure to the onset of the symptoms of the disease, is, on average, 5.2 days, but varies widely from one patient to another, shows one of the largest studies on this epidemic, according to medicalxpress.com.
While acknowledging that the estimate is "inaccurate," the Chinese researchers who conducted the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said they base their findings on medical observations of people exposed to the virus over the course of 14 days.
The World Health Organization reported Monday that the incubation period varies from two to ten days in the case of this coronavirus infection, which has as its symptoms fever, cough and respiratory problems.
Researchers studied the first 425 patients diagnosed with this virus to establish two other key features of the epidemic. Since the first occurrence, in Wuhan, in December, the number of patients has doubled every 7.4 days.
Researchers also estimate that each patient has, on average, infected 2.2 people.
The figure does not predict how large the epidemic will be, but it is useful, as researchers believe it is a small one, close to that of a flu season (1.3) and comparable to that during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, of 2002-2003 (3).
(V.D.)
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