SINGAPORE - World stock markets fell on Thursday , while bonds and the US dollar held on to hefty gains, after a coronavirus-driven plunge in US retail sales and factory production and increasing gloomy economic outlooks for Asia.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 erased this week's gains to trade 1.4 per cent lower while South Korea's Kosspi Index declined 0.7 per cent. Benchmark indexes in Australia, Korea, Hong Kong and Shanghai also posted falls between 0.3 per cent and 1.5 per cent. China is expected to report on Friday that the health crisis likely knocked its economy into its first decline on record.
CURRENCIES CAUTIOUS The grim outlook was further underscored by warnings from major US banks Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Citigroup Inc of future loan losses as they posted drops in profits.