Blood bath on global bourses

London: Global stock and oil markets plunged as vast stimulus measures failed to offset heightened concerns that the worsening coronavirus outbreak will tip the world into a deep downturn, dealers said.

In European stock market trading on Wednesday, Frankfurt, London and Paris tanked around five percent in morning deals, after similar dizzying losses across Asia. Before the market open in Paris, French regulators banned for one month short-selling, or the betting that markets will fall -- extending an initial one-day halt, in an effort to curb steep losses. World oil prices spiralled lower on energy demand woes, with New York's WTI crude touching a 17-year low at $25.08 per barrel, hurt also by a bitter price war between producers Saudi Arabia and Russia. The dollar meanwhile rose across the aboard, including versus the Japanese yen which is seen as a haven investment in times of economic turbulence.