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UK markets plunge as PM ponders response

Andy Bruce and Kylie MacLellan
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held an emergency government meeting over the coronavirus.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held an emergency government meeting over the coronavirus. Credit: AP

Coronavirus fears have led to British stocks suffering their biggest intraday fall since 2008 and benchmark bond yields turning negative for the first time.

However the government says it is not yet time to close mass events, and insists food supplies will continue.

As the worries about the economic impact of the outbreak battered global markets, Britain announced its fourth death from the virus and said it had 319 confirmed cases, up from 273 on Sunday.


Food supplies will continue.

"We are confident that food supply will continue even in our reasonable worst case scenario," Health Minister Matt Hancock told parliament on Monday.

"We have been talking to the supermarkets for some time about this scenario."

The FTSE 100 plunged to a three-year low after Saudi Arabia crashed the oil prices by slashing its own selling prices and raising output.

Yields on benchmark British government bonds turned negative for the first time ever as panicked investors rushed to the safety of gilts to hedge against the feared economic shock of the coronavirus.

As some British supermarket shelves were emptied of basics such as toilet paper, the British government said it had set up a team to tackle "interference and disinformation" around the spread of coronavirus.

