The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday calmed nerves of the panic-hit market after fresh a rise in coronavirus cases was confirmed by the Indian government. Two fresh cases were reported in Delhi and Telangana of coronavirus which has spread to more than 70 countries and killed over 3,000 people and infecting almost 90,000. “The Reserve Bank of India is monitoring global and domestic developments closely and continuously and stands ready to take appropriate actions to ensure the orderly functioning of financial markets, maintain market confidence and preserve financial stability”, the RBI said in a note.
“Globally, financial markets have been experiencing considerable volatility, with the spread of the coronavirus triggering risk-off sentiments and flights to safe haven. Spillovers to financial markets in India have largely been contained. Growing hopes of coordinated policy action to mitigate a broader fallout to economic activity has boosted market sentiment today”, RBI added.
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The outbreak of coronavirus and subsequent spread to geographies across the world has adversely affected the financial markets. The government has issued a travel advisory, suspending all regular visas or e-visas granted on or before March 3 to nationals of Italy, Iran, South Korea, Japan who have not yet entered India, a day after two fresh cases of coronavirus was reported in the country. Meanwhile, the market benchmark Sensex surged over 500 points in opening session on Tuesday tracking firm gains in global stocks amid hopes that policymakers across the world would take measures to ease the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from G7 countries will hold talks later in the day to discuss ways to coordinate their responses to cushion the epidemic’s impact on the global economy.
