Tokyo (AFP)

The Asian stock markets were in pain Thursday after Donald Trump announced the suspension of all flights from Europe to the United States for 30 days due to the coronavirus, which has become pandemic according to the World Health Organization.

In a brief formal address to the White House, Donald Trump announced the suspension from Friday of all travel from Europe to the United States (except the United Kingdom) in an attempt to stem the spread of Covid-19 on American soil.

"Sell, sell, sell" commented AxiCorp analyst Stephen Innes to sum up the mood in Asian trading rooms after Trump's announcements. "Travel restrictions mean even less global economic activity."

The measures announced by Mr. Trump to relieve American households and businesses challenged by the coronavirus also disappointed the finance sector.

"The speech was not very exciting," said Takeo Kamai of CLSA Securities Japan, quoted by financial news agency Bloomberg.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange, which had already started the session very badly in the wake of a new tumble from Wall Street the day before, was deepening its losses: at the mid-session break at 2:30 GMT, the star index Nikkei fell by 5 , 17% to 18,412.24 points, while the widened index lost 4.78% to 1,318.96 points.

- Yen jump, oil fall -

The safe haven yen appreciated sharply against the dollar and the euro after Trump's announcements, a move against Japanese export groups.

Around 2:30 GMT the dollar fell to 103.39 yen, against 104.55 yen before the address of Mr. Trump and 104.42 yen the day before.

The euro climbed to 1.1313 dollars, against 1.1279 dollars Wednesday at 19H00 GMT.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index also opened down nearly 3% on Thursday. Stock markets in mainland China also started to decline, but were more moderate (Shanghai -1.19%, Shenzhen -1.6%).

Oil prices, which had started the day in Asia on a timid rise, started again violently in the red, the suspension for one month of flights from Europe to the United States signifying a drastic drop in the consumption of black gold , already at half mast.

Around 2:10 GMT the price of a barrel of American crude fell 5.94% to 31.02 dollars and that of a barrel of London Brent from 5.90% to 33.68 dollars.

Prices were already particularly badly battered since the beginning of the week due to the inability of producers to agree to reduce supply.

The oil market had thus cashed on Monday its worst fall in almost 30 years, plunging by about 25% after the failure of discussions between producers in the Gulf, first among which Saudi Arabia, and Russia to reduce the production, which led Ryad to start a price war.

"If that does not convince Saudi Arabia and Russia to return to the negotiating table, I do not see what could happen there," said Stephen Innes of AxiCorp about the suspension of flights from Europe to the United States.

Beyond this drastic measure, the rise of the epidemic of coronavirus to the "pandemic" stage by the WHO on Wednesday also weighed heavily on the morale of investors in Asia.

"We are deeply concerned about both the alarming levels of spread and severity and the alarming levels of inaction" worldwide, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

© 2020 AFP