Global Stocks Mixed As China Takes More Economic Measures To Tackle Coronavirus Outbreak

Markets in Asia and the European Union traded in a mix on Thursday as the spread of the novel coronavirus in China seemed to be slowing down with the People's Bank of China taking further measures to reduce the economic impact.

News Sentiment

The People's Bank of China cut the benchmark on-year loan prime rate by 10 points to 4.05% in line with market expectations, CNBC reported. The five-year rate was cut 5 points to 4.75%.

The move saw the stock markets surge in mainland China. Shanghai Composite index traded 1.84% higher at 3,030.15 and Shenzhen Component was up 2.43% at 11,509.09.

Earlier on Monday, the Chinese central bank had lowered the rate on on-year medium loans by 10 points to 3.15%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.17% at 2,609.16.

The number of new cases reported on Wednesday from China grew slightly less at 2,118 and 114 deaths were confirmed in the 24-hours as the government updated the diagnosis criteria for the second time this week.

The spread of the virus spelled new fears in Japan and South Korea where more cases were reported. Japan confirmed its second death from the virus on Thursday and South Korea confirmed its first.

The number of confirmed cases of the virus in South Korea increased to 82 with a majority of the cases coming from a church mass attended by an infected patient.

Markets

South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index dropped 0.67% at 2,195.50; Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.34% at 23,479.15.

Singapore's Straits Times Index traded 0.50% lower at 3,198.79.

India's SENSEX and NIFTY 50 both traded about 0.1% lower.

Markets in Europe didn't respond to the same catalysts in Asia and markets dropped lower in early trade.

The United Kingdom's FTSE 100 was down 0.05% at 7,453.17.

France's CAC 40 dropped 0.08% lower at 6,106.35.

Germany's DAX Performance Index was trading lower 0.22% lower at 13,759.58.

The Eurozone's overall STOXX 50 index was down 0.3% at 3,853.39.

Futures in the United States traded slightly lower pointing to a smaller open of the markets in the regular session.

Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.1% at 8,724.00.

Dow Jones futures traded 0.07% lower at 29,317.00; S&P 500 futures traded similarly lower at 3,384.75.