Emerging-market stocks fell the most since the financial crisis last week amid concern the coronavirus epidemic will derail global growth, and that central banks and governments aren’t doing enough to contain it. Currencies from oil exporting countries such as Russia and Colombia tumbled after crude prices crashed.
The following is a roundup of emerging-market news and highlights for the week ending March 13:
Highlights:
- Oil dropped the most in almost 30 years after Saudi Arabia and Russia vowed to pump more in a battle for market share, just as the coronavirus spurs the first decline in demand since 2009
- Crash in crude prices prompts China’s government to consider buying more for state reserves, according to people with knowledge of the matter
- President had already said the U.S. would significantly restrict travel from Europe to the U.S. for the next 30 days
- Trump said he would seek a payroll tax cut and very substantial relief for industries that have been hit by the virus
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he doesn’t expect the coronavirus to tip the U.S. economy into recession, even though growth will slow
- The outbreak is now a pandemic, the World Health Organization said, urging governments to step up containment efforts
- Governments of Italy, U.K. and Australia joined the ranks of those introducing stimulus measures to counter economic damage from the coronavirus
- Fed promised a cumulative total above $5 trillion, in a sign officials will do whatever it takes to keep short-term financing rates from spiking
- Central banks from Australia to Canada joined the Fed in pumping cash into stressed markets, seeking to calm panicking companies and stem a surge in short-term financing rates
Asset Moves Last Week: Weekly MSCI EM stocks index -12% MSCI EM FX index -1.7% Bloomberg Barclays Global EM Local Currency Bond Index -3.4% Asia:
- Circuit breakers triggered trading halts from Bangkok to Manila and Jakarta as Asia’s developing markets struggled to cope with an exodus of foreign capital
- Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicenter of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, a trip intended to project confidence that his government has managed to stem its spread
- China’s economy is beginning to revive as the government signals progress in battling the coronavirus. The economy was likely running at 70% to 80% capacity last week, according to a Bloomberg Economics report, while China International Capital Corp. estimated it was at about 76% as of March 8
- The U.S. is willing to show China some flexibility on its pledges to boost American imports as long as Beijing ensures exports don’t surge when production returns to full strength and widen the trade imbalance between the two economies, people familiar with the discussions said
- China’s inflation slowed as the coronavirus hammered demand, with a measure of price gains that strips out food and energy prices slumping to the lowest in a decade
- China will inject 12.1 billion yuan ($1.73 billion) of capital into Bank of Jinzhou Co., adding to a rescue of the lender last year as authorities take steps to shield the nation’s banking system from the coronavirus
- India’s current-account deficit shrank to the narrowest in 14 quarters, helped by a diminishing trade gap and higher earnings from services exports and remittances
- India’s inflation rate dropped in February as food prices eased, a sign of a turnaround just as oil costs plummet
- India once again finds itself defending the stability of its financial system after the biggest bank failure in its history
- South Korea will carry out more measures to stabilize financial markets if needed, on top of strengthened rules on stock short-selling, Vice Finance Minister Kim Yongbeom says
- Indonesia’s central bank is stepping up efforts to shield the economy after a plunge in oil prices sent a new shockwave through markets already pressured by the coronavirus
- The nation’s budget deficit is set to widen to as much as 2.5% of GDP as the outlook for the economy deteriorates due to the coronavirus and the crash in oil price
- Indonesian state companies plan to spend 10 trillion rupiah ($675 million) to buy back shares after concerns over the economic impact of the coronavirus and a crash in oil prices sent local stocks into a bear market
- The country’s stock exchange will halt trading for 30 minutes if the Jakarta Composite Index falls more than 5% and another half hour if it drops over 10%, according to new rules effective March 11
- Global funds have pulled more than $2.8 billion from Indonesian bonds this year, a record outflow that has sent policy makers into high alert for further volatility
- Malaysia has appointed Azam Baki to lead its anti-graft agency after the previous chief stepped down following a change of government
- Malaysia will review a stimulus package unveiled by the previous government to see whether there’s more to be added, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said
- Thai government has suspended a plan to hand out 2,000 baht each to millions of people for now, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha said
- Duterte will be tested for coronavirus and key economic officials — including the central bank governor and finance minister — are going into quarantine as infections rise
- Philippines is watching for opportunities to offer $1 billion to $1.5 billion in dollar-denominated debt and up to $1 billion in Samurai bonds as overseas yields fall due to the coronavirus outbreak, Treasurer Rosalia de Leon says
- Philippines expects the budget deficit to breach this year’s ceiling and remittance growth to slow because of the coronavirus outbreak, officials say
- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has a menu of options available to support financial markets, Deputy Governor Francis Dakila says
- Central bank’s outstanding position in foreign-exchange swap trading was $99.1 billion at the end of February
- Taiwan’s government plans to spend an additional NT$40 billion ($1.3 billion) to support the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak
EMEA:
- South Africa’s rand plummeted as investors fled riskier assets, but demand at the country’s weekly government bond auction hit a record, with local yields at levels where investors were comfortable enough to return to the market
- South Africa’s indebted power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. won a High Court ruling against the energy regulator, which had blocked the company from recovering some costs it says it incurred during the 2019 financial year
- Business sentiment plunged to the lowest level in more than two decades in the first quarter and could weaken even further as the coronavirus hits the domestic and global economy
- Lebanon will present what it considers a conclusive economic and financial plan to the International Monetary Fund as it prepares for talks with creditors after announcing it would freeze a Eurobond payment, Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said
- Lebanon was downgraded to selective default by S&P Global Ratings, days after the government set the stage for the nation’s first-ever missed payment on international bonds
- Saudi Arabia plans to boost oil output next month to above 10 million barrels a day as it responds to the collapse of its OPEC+ alliance with Russia
- Shares in Saudi Aramco dropped below their IPO level for the first time as the looming price war in global crude markets battered the outlook for the kingdom’s flagship oil company
- The company said Sunday it was slashing planned spending this year, as it announced its 2019 results
Latin America:
- Brazil’s markets plunged, with stocks triggering a circuit breaker four times in a week and the currency sinking past 5 per dollar to a record, as local political woes added to a coronavirus-fueled global sell-off
- Congress overturned a Presidential veto on some welfare benefits, a decision that will expand government expenses by 217 billion reais ($45 billion) in 10 years, about 20% of the savings created by last year’s pension reform
- Brazil’s swap rates surged and trade was temporarily halted; investors closed bets on an additional rate cut in March 18, which was fully priced in
- Central bank intervened in the spot and foreign-exchange swap auctions
- Policy makers are preparing measures to support an economy that’s “basically stalled” as coronavirus disrupts activity, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said
- Brazil’s inflation rose 0.25% in January, more than analysts predicted, largely driven by seasonal factors; industrial output rose more in January than economists forecast as capital goods production bounced back
- President Jair Bolsonaro tested negative for coronavirus, giving his inner circle and allies some relief after a close aide was diagnosed with the illness
- Banxico had expanded the upper limit of its foreign-exchange hedge program earlier in the week
- Pemex bond yields and credit default swaps jumped as oil prices slumped; the company needs “substantial” support from Mexico, Moody’s said
- Mexico’s finance minister said the country’s oil income is completely covered by its sovereign oil hedge
- Inflation accelerated more than economists expected to the fastest since July
- Mexico is planning to grant loans to commercial sectors that could be hit hardest by the coronavirus
- Latin American bankers from HSBC Holdings Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. will lead the restructuring of more than $76 billion of debt owed by Argentina and the province of Buenos Aires
- Creditors and government officials are eying a $1.4 billion payment due on May 7 as a more urgent date to hammer out a deal
Peru’s central bank kept borrowing costs unchanged in the face of global market turmoil, giving priority to stabilizing the currency, while standing ready to add stimulus later
- Central bank is evaluating the magnitude of the crisis triggered by the coronavirus outbreak before deciding on economic stimulus, said bank’s chief economist, Adrian Armas.
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— With assistance by Lilian Karunungan, Colleen Goko, Aline Oyamada, Philip Sanders, and Paul Wallace
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