More than £62bn wiped off FTSE 100

More than £62 billion was wiped off the value of Britain’s top index yesterday as global traders reacted with fear to the first major outbreak of coronavirus in Europe.

The FTSE 100 lost 247.09 points to 7156.83, a 3.3% drop, its biggest one-day fall in more than four years. The rout happened after Italy said it had diagnosed more than 150 cases of coronavirus in the country.

Yesterday the World Health Organisation warned that the world must prepare for the spread of the virus, but stopped short of calling it a pandemic.

The rout was the biggest points fall on the blue chip index since August 2015, when nearly 289 points were wiped off the FTSE 100, in reaction to what China’s official news agency called a “Black Monday” for the country’s stock markets.

Britain’s biggest airlines were some of the losers as investors ran scared of the travel industry.

Shares in easyJet lost almost 17%, or 251.8p, Tui was down 9.8%, and British Airways owner IAG lost more than 9%.

Germany’s Dax fell more than 4%, the Paris-based Cac fell 3.9%, and Italy’s MIB dropped a astonishing 5.4%.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones in the US were both down about 3.3% at about 5pm UK time.

Investors also fled from oil, with Brent crude down 5.4% to 55.32 dollars per barrel.

There were only three risers on the FTSE 100: Pearson, up 18.2p to 579.6p, Bunzl, up 52.5p to 2,001p, and Polymetal, up 1p to 1,345p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were easyJet, down 251.5p to 1,257p, Tui, down 83.4p to 767.60p, International Consolidated Airlines, down 57p to 566p, Anglo American, down 182.2p to 1,942.8p, and Melrose, down 18.4p to 226.2p.