This is worklife from bbc news, with Sally Bundock and david eades. Asian stock markets tumble after Oil Prices Fall by more than 30 in the wake of a price war driven by coronavirus fears. Live from london, thats our top story on monday the 9th of march. Time to fasten your seat belts. The price of the black stuff is sinking like a stone, sending markets into a tailspin well explain whats driving the drop. With a quarter of italy in lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus the looks at what measure can be taken. In the latest blow to hit indias troubled yes bank its founder has been arrested for Money Laundering. Were live in mumbai for the latest. And could genetics be the key to making big gains in the gym . Well hear from a company that believes the key to keeping fit is in your dna. Today, what changes have you made in your business, workplace, at home due the to coronavirus . Tell us your story, just use the hashtag bbcworklife. A warm welcome to the programme. Financial markets in europe open for 35 minutes. I have to say, not looking good at all, sea of red, dramatic drops on key indexes across europe. Whats driving this today . The price of oil has fallen to its lowest level in years sparking another bout of selling in international markets. The 30 percent collapse was sparked by saudi arabias decision to raise production after the Oil Producers cartel opec had failed to strike a deal with russia to extend or deepen existing production cuts. There is a current glut on the market as industry is hit by a slowdown brought about by the coronavirus epidemic looking at some stocks, shell shares down over 20 currently in london. Bp shares, Energy Companies had extremely hard in europe and in asia today on the stock markets. David. They are big hits, arent they . Our Asia Business correspondent Karishma Vaswani now joins us from singapore for more on this. I suppose coronavirus and the oil price issue is a very heady mix . Yes, david, the worst possible
combinations of things to hit the markets at a time when investors in this part of the world are already feeling extremely anxious. What they woke up to was the news about the oil shock and then coupled with the fa ct oil shock and then coupled with the fact that youre starting to see the spread of the coronavirus away from asia into places like italy, the united states, the uk even. Getting a sense that these outbreaks are yet to be controlled, thats making people out here very nervous because thats going to have an impact on demand for goods and services. They are worried now about longer term impact thats why youve seen that a dramatic slump in many indices across asia today. In fact, some shares, stock indices seeing and reaching levels we havent seen since the 2008 Global Financial crisis. With oil in particular, if this spat persists the knock will be considerable and lengthy . Because
now the price is dropping below 50 a barrel, the likes of shale gas in the us cannot compete with that sort of price, theyve got bills to pay, they got big investment debts to cover. Yes, indeed. Some of the analysis, certainly some of the a nalysts analysis, certainly some of the analysts that ive spoken to are saying thats one of the big problems going forward. How are companies that are heavily invested in this space either by producing or exploration of the commodity or selling it, how are they going to end up being able to pay back some of the debts that they may well have taken in the past, at a time when demand is also going down . You are seeing this sort of double whammy hit to the oil markets at the time when people are already feeling extremely sensitive and this is going to affect some key economies in asia as well. Countries like malaysia for instance, that make a lot of their revenue from selling oil on the International Energy markets and then you are seeing
these kinds of numbers, as you point out, below 50, one analyst said we could even see 20 in 2020, thats a pretty dramatic estimate. Thats making a lot of people feel very worried and i think thats why you are seeing the anxiety across asian stocks today. As well as the fact the impact from tourist arrivals are seeing reduced numbers across the region, thats a big revenue earner for many asian economies are also being hit by that. Thank you very much for that. Lets get more from Michael Hewson chief market analyst with cmc markets. Joining us from the Trading Floor in london. Michael, a sharp intake of breath this morning when the markets open . Yes, feeling a little bit queasy. Bit of vertigo, sally, big falls in the oil markets, biggest falls in the oil markets, biggest fall since 91 in the gulf war. More importantly we are on course for European Equity markets especially the ftse 100 to see the biggest fall since october 2008 in percentage
terms. Bp down 20 , Royal Dutch Shell opened 25 lower. Pretty much a sea of red across the board. What now . We knew it was going to be volatile for some time but this seems to be pretty extreme to me. Volatile for some time but this seems to be pretty extreme to mem does but i think youve got to look at it through the prism of where weve come from over the last 12 years. The last 12 years weve been going steadily higher for quite some time. There is another lot of traders out there at the moment i dont really know what a bear market feels like and i think some of the time but you could be seeing is a little bit of overextension in terms of these declines. Not that its probably not well overdue, but theres a probably not well overdue, but theresa numberof probably not well overdue, but theres a number of economic shocks theres a number of economic shocks the traders are having to deal with, the traders are having to deal with, the coronavirus, price war between shouting arabia and russia. Its in neither of those countries interests for oil prices to remain at levels they are currently trading at the time being. But thats not to say they cant play a waiting game with
each other and i certainly think theres an element of saudi arabia looking to punish iran as well. Iran will be a significant victim of oil prices at these low levels. Sol think this is quite some way to go. The other big problem i think at the moment for investors is where is the base because of the moment there doesnt appear to be one, four Central Banks are ivan policymakers. Or even policymakers. The prediction for wall street is pretty dire today when they open later. What are you saying to your clients right now amidst all this volatility . Well i think if youve got any positions, if you dont have any positions, stay out of the market until things settle down but ultimately i think what we are looking for is a significantly lower us open. Unless youve got something that you need to get out of, you need to write this up because we are going to see an awful lot of volatility in the days and weeks ahead and hopefully we will see some
significant rebound is as well. All right, michael, good to talk to you, thank you and have a good day, if you can i dont envy you michael or anyone on the Trading Floor. You can feel the anxiety there, very palpable with michael. Lets look at some of the other stories making the news today. Italy says it plans to further increase spending to offset the Economic Impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Prime minister Giuseppe Conte says he is studying various initiatives between today and tomorrow before he meet representatives of the opposition to discuss the new economic measures. More than 7,300 people have been infected in the country with some 16 million others under new quarantine rules. Australia is suing facebook over allegedly breaching the privacy of over 300,000 australians caught up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The countrys regulator says the social media giant breached privacy law by disclosing users information for political profiling via a survey product on its website. Lastjuly, facebook was fined a record 5 billion in the us after a probe triggered by the same user personality quiz. Japans economy has shrank faster than initially estimated in the quarter ending in december last year. Its the biggest drop in more than five years. The economy is under growing pressure as the coronavirus outbreak disrupts supply chains and damages tourism, which follows the hit to consumption after octobers sales tax hike. In the latest blow to hit indias troubled yes bank its founder rana kapoor has been arrested for Money Laundering and questioned for more than 20 hours by officials. The countrys fourth largest private lender has been struggling with bad loans. For more im joined from delhi by our India Business reporter arunoday mukharji. What is the latest . Hes been arrested and essentially probed for bribes that he allegedly received,
worth about a. D1 Million Dollars in lieu of bad loans. Yes bank certainly in trouble, India Central Bank drawing up of rescue plan which involves indias largest bank to come in and bump in about 331 million, 14 9 stake but the big impact being felt by depositors, theyve been having trouble with credit and debit cards over the weekend, also had some significant problems as far as net banking operations are concerned. And the other big concern is until the 3rd of april, as per the reserve bank of india, they cannot withdraw money beyond 700, that certainly pension customers. Thank you for the latest on that. Lets show you the numbers. Even talking about markets throughout the programme, lets bring you some data. The nikki closing down 5 lower during the trading session. Weaker than that, down over 6 , you can see hong kong, a similar story. Heres the price of oil, rent currently trading at 35 a
barrel, 20 down on the price. Nearly 10 drop. Look at europe. No surprise. The big losers today across europe oi surprise. The big losers today across europe or the oil companies. Bp shares down 18 . Shell shares down a similar amount when they open. Both down over 20 when they open. Both down over 20 when they open. The ftse down eight and a half percent at the moment. You can see wea kness percent at the moment. You can see weakness right across the board. But london being hit hardest. The Big Oil Stocks are listed on the ftse 100. Thats why they are really feeling the pain. Look at that, the good old safe haven, if you got a bar of gold under the bed, its going to be all right david. Or two of sally, thank you. Time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. Werejoined by iona bain, founder of the young money blog a site which helps young People Better understand personal finance. Good day to have you in. Lets start on borisjohnson good day to have you in. Lets start on Boris Johnson s good day to have you in. Lets start on borisjohnson s government, another emergency meeting to see what next steps are. Ive enjoyed a wealth of sporting entertainment over the weekend. But these are the sorts of things, i suppose, which could be on the line . Yes, we are going to see an intensification, shall we say, of the measures designed to try and limit the impact of coronavirus and this could involve what is euphemistically called social isolation, minimising social contact. And therefore we could see the government today recommending that more people work from home. Which could come as a surprise to some. I think at the moment, we are seeing denial in certain parts of the Business Community about how serious this could get. And also because people are not necessarily used to working from home. They may find that quite a big adjustment to make. And unless we see more cases of a big adjustment to make. And unless we see more cases of coronavirus close to home, and other words affecting people that we know, it
could well be the case that we are not necessarily taking it as seriously as we could . In a sense, the government and authorities are slightly ahead of the curve, a lot of the time, arent they . Weve talked a lot about containment, they are moving on to delay, the next phase. Absolutely, moving to that phase. Absolutely, moving to that phase but the problem is they dont wa nt phase but the problem is they dont want to cause any more panic than is necessary. So i think these measures are going to be introduced quite gradually. But its really down to citizens to try and take this responsibility seriously. And also for employers as well, do not necessarily encourage those who can work from home to come to work, go on Public Transport and therefore be around other people and potentially spread the virus. I think if you go to the supermarket and you look at the shows, you might think people are taking it a bit too seriously. It depends on where you are looking, doesnt it . Weeks where youve got to quarantine yourself . David, you will need a lot of toilet roll. The Times Newspaper saying self isolation could be a blessing in disguise. What does this article say
in terms of sub isolation . Disguise. What does this article say in terms of subisolation . Trying to look on the bright side of things of what could be coming down the tracks. Self isolation is quite serious. Its the more extreme response that some people will have to adopt which is whereby theyjust lock the doors and dont really see anybody for a few weeks. But actually, what we are talking about today with this cobra meeting, the possibility of more people working from home, its not quite as extreme as that and i think what shes trying to highlight in this piece is we need to get used to working in peace and quiet again. We need to get used to working on our own and modern office light means we are consta ntly modern office light means we are constantly surrounded by people, all the hustle and bustle and noise that comes with working in an office. Suddenly, to go from bad to working from home could be a massive adjustment for people but its something we are all going to have to get used to. Its funny, we were talking about this in the green room, talking about this in the green room , you talking about this in the green room, you like a really quiet working environment will assign the opposite. I cant bear it, i like noise, i think its being in a newsroom , youre noise, i think its being in a newsroom, youre used to noise and if there isnt noise, i get worried,
i start to panic. I dont get worried but i thought we could move onto the next part of that which is about having pods and offices. It strikes me that in the office, if i can hear what someone else is having asa can hear what someone else is having as a conversation, that really annoys me. If there is a hubbub, ive got no problem, it depends a little bit on what sort of noise, ambient noise you are getting. Its interesting, this wired article suggest if you can hear the conversations it reduces your concentration by 10 . The same for me. Ithink concentration by 10 . The same for me. I think the problem concentration by 10 . The same for me. Ithink the problem is concentration by 10 . The same for me. I think the problem is offices now are so one size me. I think the problem is offices now are so one size fits all, arent they . They dont take into account lots of different ways of working. I personally am a bit of an introvert so personally am a bit of an introvert soi personally am a bit of an introvert so i need to have that space on my own. I think with coronavirus, we could see actually, one positive impact which is that more people understand the kind of productivity gains of working on your own. And having a bit of peace and quiet. This story in wired talks about pods
in more places, not sleep pods which are the kind of pulse i would like to see i would love a sleep pods which are the kind of pots i would like to see i would love a sleep out at work, amazing. Like to see i would love a sleepout at work, amazing. These are like the tardis, little places you seal yourself off. But the problem is they are too extreme. They are the pods you get told off in when the boss wants to see you ina pod, in when the boss wants to see you in a pod, you know youre in trouble. Good to see you. Thank you so much. Still to come, could genetics be the key to making big gains in the gym . Well hear from a company that believes the key to keeping fit is in your dna. Youre with worklife from bbc news. They say the weather affects our shopping, it absolutely does. It is not a myth. Persistent rain in february has impacted the high street. Its been terrible, hasnt it . An average of 17 days of rain meant
shoppers stayed away, with even under cover Retail Centres seeing the number of visitors fall. And the situation could become even more dire, with threat of coronavirus taking hold. Diane wehrle is Marketing Insights director at springboard. Diane, we are looking at a terrible number, terrible month again for the high street. Are we just all shopping online, the online retailers winning while at the high street retailers are losing . Certainly we are shopping at least in part online. Around 20 of our spendis in part online. Around 20 of our spend is online. But that belies the impact also at the impact on our browsing. We do quite a lot of browsing. We do quite a lot of browsing online. We make fewer trips now and what weve seen over the la st now and what weve seen over the last decade is a drop in footfall of around 1 2 every year. And thats the long underlying trend that we are seeing and then in fabric of course, are seeing and then in fabric of course , we are seeing and then in fabric of course, we had this horrendous rain and it was persistent. You mentioned 17 days across the uk, in wales there were 21 days out of 29 of
rain. Its not surprising that high street footfall was impacted. Do you think there might be something in the budget for those poor high street retailers for example a cut in Business Rates are something of that nature . Thats what the retailers have been calling for. They have. This is a long term lobbying exercise and certainly one thatis lobbying exercise and certainly one that is much needed and we have heard some inkling around possible disco