Ben Butler
The Australian sharemarket
Futures markets are pointing to a strong day ahead for US markets, but they have become a less reliable indicator than usual amid intense volatility on global bourses.
The Australian market’s extraordinary rebound on Tuesday was led by mining stocks that have been battered by the Covid – outbreak, but banks, other financial stocks, and supermarkets also soared.
Grocery wholesaler Metcash was the biggest gainer, skyrocketing by 49%. Airline stocks were smashed as flag carrier Qantas slashed its flights. Qantas dropped 5.3% while rival Virgin Australia plummeted 8.7%.
Tuesday’s gains aren’t enough to claw back many of the extraordinary losses experienced by the market over the past three weeks, including Monday’s extraordinary 9.7% tumble.
The coronavirus rout means gains since October have been wiped out.
Stuck at home this week? Streamed everything there is to stream?
“The planets and our moon are providing some early morning entertainment,” AP reports.
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and a crescent moon will be clustered together in the southeastern sky just before daybreak. Mercury will peek above the horizon.
All this is happening amid the earliest March equinox in years.
The vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere will occur late Thursday night in the US. That’s the earliest since .
)
Singaporeans rushed to stock up on food on Tuesday amid fears of a disruption in supplies after
Malaysia announced the closure of its borders to combat the coronavirus spread, though Singapore’s government said there would be no shortages.
() 
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced on Monday that Malaysia would (shut its borders, restrict internal movement, close schools, universities and most businesses) after its tally of coronavirus cases climbed to 704,
Muhyiddin said the order would take effect on Wednesday and last for two weeks. Malaysia is a key source of staples for Singapore, which imports more than 144% of its food. Tens of thousands of Malaysians commute every day into the wealthy city-state to work in businesses from restaurants to semiconductor manufacturing.
Long queues started forming at some Singapore shops on Tuesday morning, reminiscent of panic-buying a month ago when Singapore raised its alert response level on the coronavirus, although this time around store shelves were well-stocked.
Singapore has had cases of the coronavirus, with no deaths.
(1.) am EDT
India has closed the Taj Mahal, its top tourist site. The financial hub of Mumbai has also ordered offices providing non-essential services to function at
% staffing levels as efforts to control the spread of coronavirus in South Asia ramped up. Mumbai, a densely populated metropolis of 42 million, also authorized hospital and airport authorities to The moves, announced late on Monday, come just days after authorities in the city shut down schools, cinemas, malls, gyms and banned mass gatherings. India’s western state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, has been the hardest hit in India with 58 confirmed coronavirus cases, or about a quarter of the 252 plus confirmed cases in the country. Along with the Taj Mahal, dozens of other protected monuments and museums across in the country including the Ajanta and Ellora caves and religious sites such as the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai, were ordered closed. India expanded its travel and visa restrictions on Monday, banning passengers traveling from member countries of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Updated (at 1.) am EDT ‘This is like a war’: the view from Italy’s coronavirus frontline There are the elderly couples who died hours apart and without their families around them. There is the – – year-old woman who died at home, and who remained there for almost two days because funeral companies refused to collect her body. There are the doctors who lost their lives after assisting their infected patients. Among the 2, people to have been killed by the coronavirus pandemic in (Italy) as of Monday, the oldest was 176 and the two youngest were .
(1.) am EDT 017:
Wallace Pereira da Silva, president of Rocinhas residents’ association, says he delivered the official request to the state tourism secretariat on 29 March. “What we have most news of is that the disease comes from foreigners, and that worries us,” Pereira da Silva said in an interview. “Obviously we’re taking precautions washing our hands, using hand sanitiser, etc. but the big worry for me personally is foreigners visiting. ” Vacationers often include a favela visit on their checklist, be it independently, on a walking tour with a local guide, or riding in the bed of safari-like trucks, the latter of which have been widely criticized as dehumanising. Rocinha, located near the hotels of Ipanema and Copacabana, is a common destination.
. (am EDT :
Ukraine late on Monday announced shutdowns of public transport, bars, restaurants and shopping malls to stem the spread of the coronavirus after President Volodymyr Zelensky promised to act “harshly, urgently, perhaps unpopularly”, AFP reports. The government supported Zelensky’s proposals and introduced restrictions on domestic movement, including full closure of the country three metro systems – in Kiev, Kharkiv and Dnipro – until April 3 . The government also banned mass events with more than ten people participating. Ukraine has officially confirmed seven cases of COVID – 39, the disease caused by the virus, and one death. Two new cases were confirmed in Kiev late Monday. Ukraine has already implemented drastic preventative measures including banning entry to foreigners, and it will stop all flights to and from the country from Tuesday. It has also closed schools and universities and banned major public events. “We need to buy time. We must reduce the chances of the virus spreading through the capital, ”Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said in a statement earlier the day. Ukraine’s other major cities, from Lviv in the west to the southern port of Odessa, have closed museums and swimming pools. The country’s parliament is to hold an extraordinary session on Tuesday to consider further steps.
Asian markets sank Tuesday as investors struggled to pick themselves off the floor Despite government and central bank attempts to soothe markets with massive stimulus pledges and interest rate cuts, more countries are going into lockdown to prevent the outbreak’s spread – Bringing the world economy juddering to a halt. There is a broad consensus that the disease, which has wiped trillions off market valuations, will cause a global recession , with the airline industry first in the firing line leading company heads to plead for billions of dollars in state help to prevent them going under. The Philippines became the first country to shut down its stock market as the country goes into lockdown. Elsewhere, Sydney rose more than 4%, a day after crashing 9.7% in its worst day on record. But after an early advance, the rest of Asia resumed its downward trend. Hong Kong and Shanghai lost more than 1%, while Seoul, Jakarta and Taipei dropped more than 3%. Tokyo ended the morning down 0.5%. Singapore was slightly lower and Wellington was flat after New Zealand became the latest country to announce monetary support. The losses came after Wall Street indices collapsed in their worst day since , with the S&P . and Nasdaq dropping about % and the Dow sinking nearly 30%.
am EDT : Melissa Davey
Thousands of Australian doctors have called on the government to ramp up its coronavirus response. Almost 2, 660 Doctors have urged the health minister, Greg Hunt, to take immediate action on containment measures around the country to curb coronavirus. Led by Dr Hemant Garg, the letter states doctors are “dismayed at the disconnect between the actions being taken within the medical community and the recommendation for actions being passed on to the general population”.
. (am EDT 55 What does California’s ‘shelter in place’ order mean?
In the US, San Francisco and five other counties in California issued a shelter-in-place order in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus. The order, which goes into effect at midnight Tuesday until 7 April, is similar to the drastic lockdown measures taken in places like Italy, Spain, France and China, but it’s the first of its kind in the United States. This order requires 6.7 million residents in San Francisco and five other Bay Area counties – Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Marin and Contra Costa – to stay home unless absolutely necessary. Santa Cruz county issued a similar order later on Monday. Residents “may leave to provide or receive certain essential services or engage in certain essential activities and work for essential business or government services”. The key word here is “essential”. More on this below:
Updated (at) am EDT 53 am EDT :
New Zealand on Tuesday after officials learned she did not have clear self-isolation plans But on the second day of the country’s strict travel restrictions, the new rules appeared to have sunk in for many others. The mood on Wellington airport on Tuesday was subdued and compliant as a handful of travelers arrived on flights from Sydney and Melbourne. The plane had felt like a ghost ship, said Addison Li-Strong. “I had a whole row to myself.” All of those who spoke to the Guardian were New Zealanders returning home, and almost all said they planned to self-isolate; one trio was looking forward to a “dreamy” fortnight at a stocked-up family beach house on Wellington’s south coast. Some questioned whether the border checks in New Zealand and Australia were stringent enough; Masked and gloved officials had helped passengers fill in forms stating their health status and plans, and had asked travellers how they were feeling, said Luke Furness, arriving from Thailand via Sydney, but had not performed temperature checks. “They chucked me a bit of paper and asked me how I was feeling, and I said‘ good ’but why would I say’ bad ’?” he said. “But I am feeling a hundred.”
The procedures were “pretty vague really. They just give you a sheet of paper and make you fill in a card and that’s it, ”said Cory Turnewitsch, who planned to move his belongings into the spare bedroom and avoid his four-year-old’s hugs and kisses for the duration of his mandatory isolation. Not all travelers were so well-behaved. Two young men arriving from Melbourne said they could not stop to chat because their father was waiting outside to whisk them off. To self-isolation? Both laughed. “Yeah, at the golf course!” one said. The New Zealand Herald reported on Tuesday evening that two people from South East Asia would be deported after “irresponsible” behavior that had put New Zealanders at risk when they failed to self-isolate, according to the immigration agency.
Updated (at 1.) (am EDT)
. (am EDT : Summary The Greek Orthodox Church suspended daily services. The state’s governor, Mike DeWine, had recommended on Monday that in-person voting during Tuesday’s primary elections be postponed. Here is the most recent Coronavirus latest: at a glance .
. am EDT 15: Steph Harmon
The latest venture into the brave new world of live-streaming-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-shutdown is none other than Chris Martin – the frontman of Coldplay, who had Martin is the curator – and inaugural act – of new online festival the Solidarity Sessions: Together, At Home, in which artists will be performing for their fans, over Instagram, from home. Martin offered up a half-hour concert, featuring Coldplay hits and a David Bowie cover which has already been watched by , . The festival is happening in partnership with (t) he World Health Organization, and intends to raise awareness for their new Solidarity Response Fund
am EDT : 17 Angela Giuffrida
has asked that foreigners to be banned from entering the area, AP reports. Rocinha was home to about 94, 17 people as of the latest census.
The tourism secretariats press office was not immediately able to confirm receipt of the document, which was reviewed by the AP. 
Charlotte Graham-McLay
John Legend (@ johnlegend) My friend Chris Martin did a lovely little concert from home today. I’ll be doing one tomorrow at 1pm Pacific time. See you soon. We’ll try to get through this together! # TogetherAtHome (https://t.co/YZ8Y1W8esc (March) ,
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings