Paris (AFP)

The Paris Bourse continued to give in to anxiety on Monday mid-session, faced with fears about the spread of the deadly virus from China and a disappointing German indicator.

At 2:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. GMT), the CAC 40 index dropped 135.26 points to 5.889.00 points in a trade volume of 2.3 billion euros.

After an opening in clear decline, the Parisian place increased its losses during the morning.

Wall Street was also preparing to open in the red. The futures contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell by 1.38%, that of the broad S&P 500 index by 1.31% and that of the highly technological Nasdaq by 1.68%.

The markets of mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia were closed. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index unscrewed by more than 2% on Monday at the close.

"China-related stocks are struggling, market players fear that the health crisis will reduce economic activity," said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets.

Scientists at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have warned of an accelerated spread of the coronavirus, which has officially killed 80 people in China.

A total of 2,744 cases have been officially confirmed in this country, including that of a nine-month-old baby, while the number of suspected cases has doubled in the space of 24 hours, to nearly 6,000.

The virus has already been detected in a dozen countries, as far as North America and Europe, through people who arrived from Wuhan.

Senior Chinese health officials said on Sunday that the virus’s ability to spread has "increased", although it is not "as powerful as SARS" that caused a deadly epidemic in 2002-2003.

In order to limit population movements and stem the epidemic, Beijing has decided to suspend organized trips abroad, which could considerably affect world tourism.

To drive the point home, the morale of German entrepreneurs dropped slightly in January, despite a marked boost in confidence in the industry, according to the IFO barometer published on Monday. Analysts, on the contrary, expected an increase of 0.7 points to 97 points.

In this tense context, the results of several heavyweights of the American and European dimension expected this week could remain secondary in view of the news.

- Luxury, tourism, feverish air -

All companies dependent on the Chinese market are affected, particularly the luxury, airline and tourism sectors.

Kering lost 3.59% to 552.70 euros, LVMH dropped 3.37% to 402.25 euros and Hermès 4.98% to 675.60 euros.

Largest drop in the CAC 40, the title semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics plunged 5.08% to 26.33 euros.

The steelmaker ArcelorMittal, a value very sensitive to China and growth, lost 3.91% to 13.55 euros.

SEB suffered severely (-6.05% to 121.20 euros) from a drop in recommendation on the title by HSBC of "purchase" to "keep".

In tourism, Accor suffered (-3.75% to 36.75 euros). Air France-KLM fell 6.24% to 8.39 euros.

PSA sold 2.67% to 18.76 euros. The automotive group has announced that it will repatriate expatriates and their families living in the Wuhan area.

Capgemini fell by 1.85% to 116.85 euros after the success of its takeover bid on Altran (+ 1.27% to 14.70 euros), disputed by minority shareholders, with 53.57% of the capital raised, according to an opinion from the Financial Markets Authority (AMF).

© 2020 AFP