Europe close: Shares fall as coronavirus cases continue to mount
Stocks in Europe sliding lower again at the end of the week as the number of reported coronavirus cases in China continued climbing, reaching 9,950.
The Continent's major stockmarket indices had begun the session higher, somewhat surprisingly on the back of the latest economic data out of China, although analysts remained very wary, despite the lower mortality rate of the current outbreak when compared to the 2003 SARS epidemic.
"A somewhat unremarkable decline in the Chinese manufacturing PMI survey could provide a false sense of security, with much of the economic impact likely to be reflected in the next release," said IG's Josh Mahony.
"Chinese economic growth is certain to take a substantial hit, and with no end in sight to this crisis it does seem product for traders to remain defensive for the time being."
By the end of trading, the German Dax was down 1.33% to 12,981.97, while the Cac-40 was 1.11% lower to 5,806.34.
But the hardest hit was Milan's FTSE Mibtel, which was fell 2.29% to 23,237.03 after the country's statistics agency reported that Italian GDP shrank at a 0.3% quarter-on-quarter pace in the last three months of 2019 (consensus: +0.1%).
Overnight, an official survey of factory sector conditions in the Asian giant showed that activity only softened a touch in January, despite the onset of the new coronavirus.
The National Bureau of Statistics's manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index dipped from a reading of 50.2 for December to 50.0 in January, as expected, signalling no growth in the space, but neither a contraction.
Also weighing on sentiment, on Thursday evening, the World Health Organisation declared a global health emergency, amid news that the number of reported cases of coronavirus and death toll had jumped further.
The latest batch of economic data out in the euro area was underwhelming, with the bloc's quarter-on-quarter rate of growth in gross domestic product slowing from 0.2% in the third quarter to 0.1% in the final stretch of the year (consensus: 0.2%).
Separately, Eurostat reported that while headline consumer prices picked up by a tenth of a percentage point to 1.4% year-on-year in January, at the core level CPI slowed by more than expected, from 1.3% to 1.1% (consensus: 1.2%).