Tokyo (AFP)

The Asian stock markets were still suffering heavy losses on Friday, especially Tokyo in the wake of the historic debacle of the world stock markets the day before, faced with the inexorable progression of the coronavirus pandemic making fear a global recession.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange was experiencing its worst session crash since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

Its flagship index Nikkei thus briefly plunged by more than 10% around 01:30 GMT (-10.06% at 16,691.98 points), while the widened Topix index sank by 9.38% at the same time.

The two indices lost 7.97% and 7.2% respectively at the mid-session break (2:30 GMT).

The yen, a traditional safe haven whose appreciation hurts Japanese exporting companies, however, held up well against the dollar on Friday, which was worth 105.11 yen against 103.65 yen the day before after the closing of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Chinese stock markets also fell Friday morning, but less than Tokyo.

In Hong Kong the Hang Seng index fell 5.06% to 23,709.51 points, while in mainland China the Shanghai Stock Exchange composite index dropped 2.67% to 2,845.55 points and that of the market from Shenzhen 2.62% to 1,770.96 points.

- "Oil on fire" -

From Paris to Wall Street, from London to Sao Paulo, the carnage on the world financial markets was appalling on Thursday, some stock exchanges having experienced their worst session since the crash of 1987.

Investors were completely taken aback by Donald Trump's decision to suspend the entry of Europeans from the Shenghen space into the United States for 30 days, as a precaution against the Covid-19, which has now reached the pandemic stage according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The surprise announcement by the American president has visibly completed the hopes of the markets in a concerted global response to the pandemic, both health and economic.

"The turmoil in the markets has reached a new level in the past 24 hours" with Trump's announcements and economic stimulus measures "below expectations," wrote Rodrigo Catril, strategist at National Australia Bank.

The dispersed actions of states and global central banks in the face of the pandemic "add fuel to the fire" by increasing uncertainty, rather than providing relief, added Catril.

The European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday unveiled a package of measures to limit the economic impact of the health crisis in the euro area. Without lowering its key rates, however, unlike the Federal Reserve (Fed) or the Bank of England in particular, which disappointed the markets.

The euro, which fell Thursday against the greenback after the ECB announcements, rose slightly on Friday, moving to 1.1190 dollars around 0300 GMT against 1.1176 dollars Thursday at 19.00 GMT.

- Oil drops further -

New containment measures to try to stem the Covid-19 pandemic "have increased the likelihood of a severe slowdown in global growth," said Catril.

The toll of the pandemic continues to grow, with more than 130,000 cases of contamination in 116 countries and territories and nearly 5,000 dead, according to a last assessment established by AFP Thursday (17:00 GMT) from official sources.

China, where the coronavirus emerged in December, now considers that the peak of the pandemic has passed on its territory, which has paralyzed the activity of entire regions of the country since the end of January.

But the Covid-19 is now raging elsewhere, notably in Italy, Iran or even South Korea, disrupting the daily life of hundreds of millions of people with schools and public places closed, limited travel, closed borders, sporting and cultural events canceled or postponed.

Oil prices continued to slide in Asia on Friday, as the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia worsened the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the black gold market.

Shortly before 03:00 GMT the barrel of American crude WTI dropped 1.37% to 31.07 dollars, while the barrel of Brent of the North Sea lost 1.23% to 32.81 dollars.

© 2020 AFP