Finance Monthly March 2020 Edition

10 www.finance-monthly.com NEWS - MONTHLY ROUND-UP ing impact of corona- virus, which is contin- uing to spread – and at a faster pace. This will inevitably hit fi- nancial markets and investors’ complacen- cy leaves many wide open to nasty sur- prises”. “Against this backdrop and with the ongoing uncertainty over the direction of stocks and other risk assets, multi-asset portfolios might be favoured by global investors, given that they offer diversi- fication of risk as well as of return”. Global equities regis- tered losses following a surge in coronavirus cases in Italy, Iran and South Korea, and as the first cases are con- firmed in Kuwait, Bah- rain and Afghanistan. Markets and stocks in Europe were hit hard in the last week of February, and though there has been some rebound, the spread of the coronavirus outbreak is seriously affecting markets worldwide. 12 Italian towns were locked down, following over 150 cases and four deaths. As a result, the pan-European STOXX 600 index and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index were down 3.3% and 4.3% respectively. “Italy’s lockdown, as the country tries to control the worst out- break of the virus in Europe, has caused investors to panic about how business and society will be af- fected”, Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, told Yahoo Finance. “There has been so much complacency in recent weeks from in- vestors, despite clear signs that China’s economy is facing a large hit and that sup- ply chains around the world were being dis- rupted”, he added. On the other hand, gold has seen a strik- ingly opposite effect, as the value of gold has now reached a seven-year high in the wake of the coronavi- rus outbreak. It’s clear that although some investors have been complacent in pro- tecting their invest- ments, some have re- sorted to storing their money in gold, a safe investment space. According to recent figures, gold prices climbed around 2%, up to levels not seen since February 2013. Prices are now fluc- tuating as high as $1,678.58 an ounce. On the topic of com- placency, the deVere Group’s CEO, Nigel Green has warned: “Many investors re- main complacent about the far-reach- Coronavirus Hits Stocks Hard but Gold Hits 7-Year High