Asian stocks crash as pandemic concerns intensify

SINGAPORE- Oil and Asian share markets continued to hit lower grounds on Thursday as the fast-paced contagion of the novel coronavirus brought market sentiment down and made investors seek safe-haven assets.

The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan finished its session with 0.5% decline and is 4% lower for this week’s trading activity.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 shed 1% at midday trading recording a total of 7& setback this week. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 lost 1.7%, the sharpest drop since October. The Hang Seng .HSI sunk down 1% as the sought after asset gold clocked in 0.7%.

Heightened level of concerns, which U.S. health authorities previously warned about, already wiped out more than $3.6 trillion from global stock markets by Wednesday session.

China’s virus statistics continued to bloat and is accountable for an atrocious 96% diagnosis. The country had long implemented containment methods which directly impacted global supply chains. In line with this, new cases were confirmed outside China as South Korea, Iran, and Italy monitored an increase in diagnosis.

South Korea reported an additional 334 new cases on Thursday, the highest increase ever since the virus was confirmed on January 20th. China tallied 433 new diagnoses as unconfirmed reports have it that the virus may be spreading in California.