Minutes after the Indian stock markets opened on Friday, the benchmark index Nifty hit the 10 per cent lower circuit, halting trade for 45 minutes.
Things were no different for the global markets as they too registered deep cuts during overnight trading.
No doubt, the rapid spread of Coronavirus and the global sell-off were the main triggers, deciding the market’s trajectory. But that’s not all of it, folks!
The novel Coronavirus, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on Wednesday, has affected people from all walks of life and so also their businesses. And that’s what we will be talking about.
Here's a look at the global impact of Coronavirus pandemic:
As the panic gripping world's financial markets deepend and safe haven assets failed to cover losses, Asian markets too, crashed on Friday, after both New York and London markets reported their worst session since the Black Monday crash of October 1987.
In the early trading hours, Nifty hit the 10 per cent lower circuit halting trade for 45 minutes. We can say this was expected and indicated by the SGX Nifty plunging over 700 points.
To recapitulate, Circuit Breaker is the mechanism which is used to bring normalcy in markets when the index moves at 10 per cent, 15 per cent, and 20 per cent in either direction.
Once, the index hits circuit breaker, trading in the entire market gets suspended for a period of time, or trades are only conducted within the stipulated threshold.
Well, so much about the markets.
Now, let’s take a look at how Coronavirus has become an unprecedented situation for the travel industry and global events.
Recently, US President Donald Trump announced a unilateral ban on travel from 26 EU countries. As a result, the industry axed more flights in order to sustain the losses.
The drastic decline in trans-Atlantic flights will hit the aviation industry, which is already facing a crisis due to a steep decline in bookings because of pandemic fears.
According to data from the aviation analyst OAG, the unilateral ban will affect 13,500 flights and 4 million passengers in the next four weeks.
Several sporting events like Formula One Australian Grand Prix, La Liga, and other major events have either been cancelled or will be conducted in empty stadiums.
Many seminars, movie releases - James Bond movie - No Time To Die, Sooryavanshi, Mulan, Fast 9 - have been postponed. Rock concerts have aken a hit. School, colleges, coaching centres, and all educational institutes have been shut.
The whole of Italy is under quarantine. Deaths in Iran and Italy are rising. The number of cases in India are also increasing. The reason behind quarantines and travel bans is simply to contain the spread of the virus without creating mass panic.
All this and much more goes on to tell the extent of the pandemic and measures being taken by the governments of the world to do some damage control.