Stocks in Asia See Huge Decline, IATA Forecasts Airlines to Lose up to ฿3.5tn

Stocks in Asia edged lower on Friday, March 6, 2020, in a roller-coaster week amid concerns over the spreading of coronavirus that the infection kept increasing.

 

As of 9:30 local time in Thailand, Nikkei lost 2.91%, SSEC dropped 1.11%, HSI dipped 1.97%, ASX 200 fell 2.02% and Kospi declined 2.38%.

The plummet in Asia markets followed the decline in Wall Street last night. Dow Jones tanked 969 points to 26,121.28, plunged 3.58%. S&P 500 fell 3.39% and Nasdaq lost 3.10%. On the other hand, VIX jumped 23.85%.

 

The virus had infected over 97,800 people and taken more than 3,300 lives worldwide. Airline businesses were severely hit by the outbreak. On Friday, stocks of Australia’s Qantas Airways lost 4.73% while Japan’s ANA plunged 2.32%. South Korea’s Korean Air Lines’ stock plummeted 4.98%.

Moreover, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasted that airlines could lose up to $113 billion in revenue this year (approx. 3.5 trillion baht).