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* Mining stocks slump on fears virus outbreak may hit China
growth
* Luxury goods makers, airlines, hotels tumble
* Miners set for worst day in 6 months
* Over 97% of STOXX companies in red
(Updates to close)
By Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Susan Mathew
Jan 27 (Reuters) - Potential damage to business from China's
fast-spreading coronavirus knocked more than 2% off European
stocks on Monday, after the world's second biggest economy
ramped up travel bans and extended the Lunar New Year holidays.
More than 97% of stocks in the STOXX 600 .STOXX were
trading in the red with many toppling from record highs, wiping
out around 180 billion euros of market capitalisation from the
European share index.
The biggest jolt was felt by luxury, airlines and hotel
issues, which see big demand from Chinese consumers. Europe's
major luxury players have lost more than $50 billion in market
value since the outbreak last week.
Most major country indices in Europe fell more than 2%,
while regional sectors lost at least 1% each.
Germany's DAX .GDAXI slumped almost 3%, while France's CAC
.FCHI posted its worst day in almost four months as LVMH
LVMH.PA , Christian Dior DIOR.PA , Hermes HRMS.PA and Gucci
owner Kering PRTP.PA fell more than 3.6%.
Other companies in the luxury space such as Burberry Group
Plc BRBY.L , Moncler SpA MONC.MI , Swiss watchmakers Swatch
UHR.S and Richemont CFR.S declined between 2.5% and 4.8%.
Comparing the new coronavirus with the SARS outbreak in
2002-03, Bernstein analysts highlighted that Chinese nationals
accounted for just 2% of the global luxury goods market in 2003
versus a whopping 35% in 2019.
"Equities are finally beginning to contemplate the
possibility that the virus 2019-nCoV (coronavirus) in China will
have significant economic impact as the lockdown is now
affecting 56 million people," said Peter Garnry, head of equity
strategy at Saxo Bank.
Meanwhile, safe-haven investment options such as gold and
government bonds rose as the death toll from the outbreak in
China increased to 81 and the number of cases of infection
jumped by about 30% in a day.
The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index .V2TX , European
investors' "fear gauge", has jumped to its highest level since
Dec. 3.
"With a market looking to take some profit, what you'll
probably see until everything clears is a move from risk-on type
of holdings to more value-focused holdings and going back to
companies that pay decent dividends and are more domestically
focused," said Stephan Lueck, senior vice president, European
equity sales at Auerbach Grayson.
"For the short-term, we should have a clearer picture in a
week to two weeks. So give the market a few weeks to sell-off
and if there aren't too many deaths we should see some stability
within a month and some normalcy going forward."
With rising travel curbs, flight operators Air France
AIRF.PA , Lufthansa LHAG.DE , cruise line operator Carnival
Corp CCL.L , hotel group Accor ACCP.PA and IHG IHG.L took a
hit, with IHG clocking its worst day in more than three years.
Europe's travel & leisure index .SXTP ended at its lowest in
to nearly seven weeks.
The basic resources .SXPP index eyed its worst day in
nearly six months hit by growth fears in China, the world's top
metals consumer.
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