A trader wears a face mask on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the US. Picture: REUTERS/LUCAS JACKSON
A lot of factors were in play for markets, said Shafali Sachdev, the head of forex Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management in Singapore, from US-China tension to a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks. Travel and leisure stocks were down 3%, with UK-based airlines and tour operators such as TUI, easyJet, British Airways owner IAG falling 8% and to 13.5% after Britain imposed a 14-day quarantine on travellers returning from Spain, where coronavirus cases are rising again.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Washington and its allies must use “more creative and assertive ways” to press the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways.