BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks are likely to open higher on Monday despite rising fears over the coronavirus epidemic.
In a bid to support the world's second-largest economy, China's central bank unexpectedly lowered the interest rates on reverse repurchase agreements and pledged to inject $174 billion of liquidity into markets.
Asian markets drifted lower, with China's benchmark Shanghai Composite index plunging nearly 8 percent, as traders returned to their desks following extended holidays for the Lunar New Year break.
The death toll for the Wuhan coronavirus in mainland China has overtaken that of SARS, which killed 349 people on the mainland in the early 2000s.
The number of people infected by the virus first found in Wuhan has risen above 17,000 as of Sunday night.
Economic data from China added to the gloom as factory activity expanded at its slowest pace in five months in January and industrial firms posted their first annual decline in profits in four years in 2019.
Gold eased slightly from a four-week high as the dollar firmed up. Oil extended declines on worries about lower demand in the world's largest oil importer.
U.S. stocks plunged on Friday, with renewed concerns about the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak, sluggish economic data and a mixed batch of corporate earnings weighing on markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 2.1 percent to hit its lowest level in well over a month, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.6 percent and the S&P 500 declined 1.8 percent.
European markets closed lower on Friday as the U.K. and Russia confirmed infections from the corona virus and data showed softer growth in the eurozone.
The pan European Stoxx 600 shed 1.1 percent. The German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both fell around 1.3 percent, while France's CAC 40 index gave up 1.1 percent.
Britain exited the European Union as a member state on the night of January 31 and has now started an 11-month transition period in which it hopes to strike a trade deal with the bloc.
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