Tokyo (AFP)

The Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange plummeted by more than 4% on Tuesday morning at the opening, the first session of a week which began with a clear global acceleration of the epidemic of coronavirus, which made places fall world Monday, public holiday in Japan.

In the first transactions, the Nikkei lost 3.6% then more (more than 4%) in the following minutes, to fall by more than 1,000 points to 22,335.21 points. The broad Topix index dropped for its part 3.81% to 1,610.30 points.

World stock markets plunged into red Monday, fearing major macroeconomic repercussions of this viral epidemic originating in China and which is spreading in various regions of the world.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones endured its worst session in more than two years with a fall of 3.56%, the Nasdaq falling by 3.71% and the S&P 500 by 3.35%.

In Japan, the coronavirus has so far affected 691 people from the quarantined liner Diamond Princess near the port of Yokohama, and 156 people in different provinces of the archipelago.

"We are at a critical moment, either we can minimize the peak with precautions from everyone, or the number of cases increases rapidly," Japanese infectious disease specialists warned Monday evening at a conference. Press.

In China, the number of deaths rose Tuesday to 2,663 for more than 77,500 people infected. The situation has also worsened significantly in South Korea, as well as in Italy.

Movements of values

All of the key sectors represented in the Nikkei index were affected.

FUJIFILM FLIES: the action of the former photo champion partially converted to a pharmaceutical laboratory jumped 4% to 5,632 yen, after the Japanese Minister of Health said that the country was thinking of using the anti-flu drug Avigan including Fujifilm is the supplier.

The rest of the pharmacy sector was in contrast in bright red: Daiichi Sankyo plunged from 6.21% to 7,179 yen, Takeda from 3.62% to 4,076 yen and Astellas from 4.49% to 1,829.5 yen.

AUTOMOBILE IN FALL: the actions of automakers were among the most affected. Toyota fell 3.35% to 7,575 yen and Nissan 3.55% to 486.2 yen.

ELECTRONICS AFFECTED ALSO: The titles of the electronics giants were also at their worst. Sony won 3% at 7,254 yen, and Panasonic 3.93% at 1,148 yen.

Currency and oil changes

The yen tended to rally against other major currencies, which is also a reason for investors to sell stocks in Japan.

At 00:00 GMT, the greenback was worth 110.93 yen, against 112.00 at the end of the previous session, Friday, benchmark for actors of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The euro was trading for 120.39 yen against 120.84 yen.

The European currency rose slightly against the dollar. A euro was traded Tuesday at 00:00 GMT for 1.0852 dollar against 1.0847 Monday at 20:00 GMT.

Oil prices tended to rebound a bit after slipping strongly on Monday. The price of a barrel of American WTI crude rose 0.37% to 51.61 dollars. He dropped 3.7% on Monday.

© 2020 AFP