STI dips as Covid-19 cases surge in Hubei

INVESTOR sentiment in Asia was improving on the back of declining rates of deaths and new cases of infection associated with the novel coronavirus, but all of that changed on Thursday.

The reason: the Chinese authorities started using a new method of diagnosis, which resulted in sharp increases in both the fatality count and the number of infected in Hubei province, the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak.

With the spike suggesting that a bigger-than-expected crisis might be on the cards, AxiCorp chief market strategist Stephen Innes noted: "The Hubei coronavirus update headline has initially hit like a ton of bricks, given this is one of the market's biggest fears."