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· The Japanese yen returned as a beacon of safety on Friday, hitting a one-month high against the dollar, as mounting fears the world was on the cusp of a pandemic sent global financial markets into a tailspin.

The yen JPY= rose 0.7% to a month-high of 108.85 per dollar on Friday, leaving the greenback down 2.4% for the week, its biggest loss on the Japanese currency in more than three years.

Asia’s export currencies were crunched. The Australian dollar tanked 0.7% to a fresh 11-year low on the dollar and it lost twice as much against the yen AUDJPY=R.

The New Zealand dollar fell 1% on the greenback and 1.7% against the yen.

Hopes the coronavirus outbreak could be contained in China have vanished this week as infections spread around the globe.



CONONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

· Mainland China had 327 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Thursday, the country’s National Health Commission said on Friday, down from 433 cases a day earlier and the lowest since Jan. 23.

That brings the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 78,824.



· South Korea reported 571 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its total number of infections to 2,337, the largest outbreak outside China where the epidemic began late last year.

· New Zealand confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus on Friday in someone who returned from Iran, but said the chances of a community outbreak remains low.

The patient — in their 60s — tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day. The person is being treated in Auckland City Hospital and their condition is improving, a Health Ministry statement said.



· Lithuania reported its first coronavirus infection on Friday, in a woman who returned this week from a visit to Italy’s northern city of Verona, the government said, as the disease spreads rapidly worldwide.



· Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the country’s first case of the new coronavirus. The agency said the case was confirmed Thursday in Lagos State.

An Italian man who arrived in Nigeria three days ago has become the African country's first case of coronavirus, the health minister said on Friday, as infections spread rapidly worldwide.


· German media reported on Friday that around 1,000 people have been quarantined at home in the west German town of Heinsberg.


· Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Britain should prepare for an economic hit as fallout from the novel coronavirus outbreak deepens.



· Moody’s Analytics said in a Thursday note that there is a 40% chance that the coronavirus outbreak turns into a pandemic — when an epidemic spreads globally and affects a large number of people worldwide — and that if such a situation arises, then it would “result in global and U.S. recessions during the first half of this year.”



· JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) issued global restrictions on non-essential travel to protect its employees and business against the spreading coronavirus, the Bloomberg News reported late on Thursday.



· A surge in coronavirus cases outside China has sent stock markets across the world tanking, with Wall Street’s major indexes dropping into correction territory on Thursday.

Here’s a list of indexes currently in correction territory, as of Friday afternoon trade:

Japan: Nikkei 225

China: Shanghai composite

Hong Kong: Hang Seng index

South Korea: Kospi

Australia: S&P/ASX 200

Singapore: Straits Times index

Thailand: SET composite index



· Japan’s factory output rose more than expected in January, providing some relief for policymakers amid heightened risks of a recession as the coronavirus outbreak in China disrupts supply chains and business activity.

The world’s third-largest economy shrank at the fastest pace in almost six years in the December quarter as a nationwide tax hike hurt business and consumer spending and soft overseas demand hit exports.

Official data on Friday showed factory output rose 0.8% in January from the previous month, a faster expansion than the 0.2% gain in a Reuters forecast, and following a downwardly revised 1.2% rise in the previous month.



· Japan’s household spending likely dropped for a fourth straight month in January as a sales tax hike continued to hurt consumers, a Reuters poll showed, suggesting any recovery could be some time away as pressures rise from the coronavirus outbreak.

Household spending is expected to have fallen 4.0% in January from a year earlier, the poll of 16 economists showed, after a 4.8% decline in December.



· Japan’s health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday there was a chance schools could be closed longer than one or two weeks, depending on the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday urged Japan’s entire school system, from elementary to high schools, to close from Monday until spring break late in March to help contain the coronavirus outbreak.



· Oil prices plunged to their lowest in more than a year on Friday, putting them on track for the biggest weekly decline in more than four years, as the rapid spread of the coronavirus stoked fears of slowing global demand.

The most active Brent crude contract for May LCOc2 was down $1.37, or 2.7%, at $50.36 a barrel by 0445 GMT, a 14-month low. The front-month April contract expires later on Friday.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 fell $1.33, or 2.8%, to $45.76 per barrel. U.S. crude has fallen about 14% for the week, the biggest weekly decline since May 2011.

Reference: Reuters ,CNBC