Saudi Arabia bans millions of pilgrims
Pensions take hit as billions are wiped off stock market
PENSION savings took a battering yesterday after billions of pounds were wiped off the stock market in the wake of the growing coronavirus outbreak.
The London Stock Exchange dropped to a new 13-month low as the spread of Covid-19 hit markets around the world and traders warned that it could lead to “anaemic global growth”.
The FTSE 100 blue-chip index has lost £152billion in the past four days – a fall of 8.2 per cent so far this week, shedding £62billion yesterday.
It closed at 6,796.33, after dropping 246.14 points, or 3.5 per cent.
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Jennifer McKeown, head of the global economics service at Capital Economics, said: “We just can’t predict the spread and how bad it can be.”
Global investors have now been hit with six successive days of stock market losses. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, of Swissquote bank, said: “The slide is the market’s understanding that the coronavirus outbreak would translate into significantly lower earnings and an anaemic global growth.”
Companies across industries worldwide – from mining firm Rio Tinto to software giant Microsoft – have said that they will not make sales targets.
Airlines and holiday firms were hardest hit, with shares in Tui and British Airways owner IAG all down heavily. EasyJet shares have collapsed 26 per cent in a week. But sales of Dettol and Lysol cleaning and hygiene products have surged.
SAUDI Arabia has banned foreign pilgrims from entering the kingdom to visit Islam’s holiest sites – amid rising concerns in the Middle East over the coronavirus.
The extraordinary move disrupts the plans of millions of people ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan and as the annual Hajj pilgrimage looms.
There have been no confirmed cases of the Covid-19 strain in
Saudi Arabia.
Most have been linked to Iran, where the death toll has reached 26, the highest outside of China.
Iranian vice president Masoumeh Ebtekar has reportedly been infected with the coronavirus.