Hong Kong
Asian markets rallied Monday as the rate of deaths from coronavirus sank in several badly hit countries, while leaders stepped up plans to reopen their economies, though oil prices sank with supply glut fears overshadowing output reductions.
Traders are also keeping a keen eye on key meetings of central banks in Japan, the US and Europe this week, hoping for further financial support to offset the impact of the virus, which is expected to have sent the world into recession.
But while more than 205,000 people have died from the disease and nearly three million cases been recorded, figures at the weekend out of Europe’s worst-hit countries provided some much-needed hope to markets that the peak of the crisis may have passed.
Britain’s daily tally was the lowest since March 31, while Italy and Spain’s were the lowest in a month. France’s toll was a drop of more than a third on the previous day’s figures.
And the relative improvement in the data has allowed governments to start easing up on lockdowns that have kept half the planet stuck at home.
In Italy, wholesale stores and restaurants will be allowed to resume business on May 4 and people will once again be permitted to stroll in parks and visit relatives, while other shops and museums will open three weeks later.
Spain on Sunday let children play outside for the first time since mid-March and Swiss hairdressers, massage parlours, florists and garden centres will be able to reopen from Monday.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that a first stage of a reopening would start on May 15 if hospitalisations decrease.—AFP
