SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Stocks plunged on Friday with coronavirus panic selling hitting nearly every asset class, before finding some kind of floor as hopes turned to a U.S. stimulus package.
Currency dealers walk past an electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of a bank in Seoul, South Korea, March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
European and U.S. stock futures traded in positive territory and some of Asia’s deepest losses were recovered by the end of a session, in which tight liquidity exaggerated moves.
Japan’s Nikkei .N225 fell 10% before paring the drop to close 6% lower. Australia’s S&P/ASX200 had its wildest trading day on record, falling past 8% before surging in the last minutes of trade to settle 4.4% higher after the close.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS wobbled 0.1% higher by late-afternoon after being down more than 5% during the morning. It remains set to end the week 11% lower, the biggest drop since 2008.
The turnaround came as central banks from the United States to Australia pumped liquidity into their financial systems and as hopes grew that U.S. Democrats and Republicans could pass a stimulus package on Friday.
It was not clear if the late market moves signalled a recovery in the dire sentiment that has wiped some $14 trillion from world stocks in a month and had Asian markets in freefall at the open.
“It’s like a deja vu of what happened in 2008 but of course the reasons ar