Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison termed the coronavirus outbreak as a “global health crisis” and an “unknown global shock”. His government warned of unprecedented impacts to Australia’s financial, tourism, and education sectors. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg warned that the impact will be greater than the bushfires and be felt across the nation.
Presently, Australia has imposed a strict travel ban on visitors arriving from China. There are at least 20 confirmed cases of the virus in Australia, with many coming from the Diamond Princess luxury cruise ship.
Consequently, the Australian stock market lost roughly $50 billion AUD worth of value as investors fear that the outbreak will severely curtail commodities trading. The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) fell by nearly 2.34% this morning, and the Australian dollar is trading at 66.01 US cents, its lowest trading value since 2009 during the Global Financial Crisis.
In fact, the coronavirus has contributed to a $1.5 trillion contraction of world stock markets since January 20, as investors have withdrawn their money from volatile markets and placed it in more “traditional safe havens”, such as gold. In Australia, for example, the energy sector fell by 3.7%, the price of gold increased by 1.1% to its highest level in seven years.
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