LatAm stock exchanges suffer new plunge over coronavirus

Argentina's main stock exchange crashed by nearly 10 percent on Thursday as markets continued to panic over the coronavirus pandemic.

The fall wasn't as bad as Monday's that reached almost 14 percent but it continued the week's general downward spiral across the region.

Colombia's stock exchange lost more than nine percent on Thursday while the Santiago exchange in Chile fell by over six percent.

The São Paulo exchange in Brazil suffered the seventh worst day in its history by losing almost 15 percent.

In Argentina, banks and financial institutions were the worst affected companies as the Supervielle bank lost 20.7 percent, BBVA Argentina dropped 19.1 percent and Banco Macro went down 14.1 percent.

Of the main shares, 132 fell and only seven rose in value.

After "Black Monday," the Marvel index had recovered slightly on Tuesday, gaining eight percent before losing another 4.3 percent on Wednesday.

As well as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Argentina is struggling with a massive debt.

It owes US$311 billion – more than 90 percent of GDP – with some US$30 billion in repayments due before the end of March.

President Alberto Fernandez's government is desperate to avoid repeating the hugely damaging 2001 default on a $100 billion debt that turned it into a market pariah.

– TIMES/AFP