* ECB launches $850 bln bond buying programme
* U.S. stock futures volatile, Asia markets bumpy
* RBA embarks on QE, cuts rates to record low
* Dollar surges as AUD, NZD collapse
* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, March 19 (Reuters) - The dollar surged and
everything else was blown away on Thursday as emergency central
bank measures in Europe, the United States and Australia failed
to halt a fresh wave of panic selling.
"There's no buyers, there's not much liquidity and everyone
is just getting out," said Chris Weston, head of research at
Melbourne brokerage Pepperstone. Stocks, bonds, gold and
commodities fell as the world struggles to contain coronavirus
and investors and businesses scramble for hard cash.
U.S. stock futures EScv1 were a hair's breadth from
hitting session down limits. The growth-sensitive Australian
dollar was crushed 4% to a more than 17-year low. AUD/
Nearly every stock market in Asia was down and circuit
breakers were hit in Seoul, Jakarta and Manila. Traders reported
huge strains in bond markets as distressed funds sold any liquid
asset to cover losses in stocks and redemptions from investors.
Benchmark 10-year sovereign bond yields in Australia, New
Zealand, Malaysia, Korea and Singapore and Thailand surged as
prices tumbled. Gold XAU= fell 1% and copper hit its downlimit
in Shanghai. GOL/ MET/L
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 5% to a four-year low, with Korea and Hong
Kong leading losses.
The Nikkei .N225 fell nearly 1%, the ASX 200 .AXJO
nearly 3%, while the Kospi .KS11 lost 8% and the Hang Seng 5%.
"We're in this phase where investors are just looking to
liquidate their positions," said Prashant Newnaha, senior
interest rate strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.
Meanwhile, the virus outbreak has worsened. Italy on
Wednesday reported the largest single-day death toll increase
from coronavirus since the outbreak began in China in late 2019.
It has killed more than almost 9,000 people globally,
infected more than 218,000 and prompted emergency lockdowns on a
scale not seen in living memory.
J.P. Morgan economists forecast the U.S. economy to shrink
14% in the next quarter, and the Chinese economy to drop more
than 40% in the current one, one of the most dire calls yet as
to the scale of the fallout. "There is no longer doubt that the longest global expansion
on record will end this quarter," they said in a note. "The key
outlook issue now is gauging the depth and the duration of the
2020 recession."
Investors will be parsing U.S. weekly jobless figures due at
1230 GMT, and in the weeks to come to gauge the depth of
layoffs.
SELL EVERYTHING
The selloff followed an attempt at stabilising in morning
trade, with an ECB pledge to buy 750 billion euro ($820 billion)
in bonds through 2020 offering some support. In the afternoon the U.S. Federal Reserve promised a
liquidity facility for money market mutual funds. The Reserve Bank of Australia also cut interest rates to a
record-low 0.25% and announced an historic foray into
quantitative easing after at an out-of-cycle meeting.
But as with previous massive stimulus measures already
announced by central banks around the world, it offered little
salve to dire sentiment.
"This is about the impact on demand and the disruption of
global supply chain...it is not speaking directly to the key
problem for markets," said Michael McCarthy, chief market
strategist at brokerage CMC Markets in Sydney.
In currency markets, everything except the dollar and the
euro collapsed. Sterling GBP= fell 1% to $1.1490. The yen fell
1% to 109.16 per dollar. The New Zealand and Australian dollars
each fell more than 4%. FRX/
U.S. 10-year Treasuries US10YT=RR , usually a haven in
times of turmoil, rose through the session, following their
steepest two-day selloff in nearly 20 years on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Oil steadied after an overnight plunge to an 18-year low in
Asian trade, with U.S. crude CLc1 last up 6.5% to $21.70 and
Brent LCOc1 up 34 cents to $25.22. O/R
"I'd say the market is uninvestable at this point," said
Daniel Cuthbertson, managing director at Value Point Asset
Management in Sydney. "Until we get a containment of global
contractions, the market is just going to be directionless."
($1 = 0.9149 euros)
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Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
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(Editing by Sam Holmes)