Travel, aviation and oil stocks around world badly hit as worries deepen over effect of fresh Covid wave on global economy
- Oil prices plunge as new Covid variant spooks markets
- Coronavirus – latest updates
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Stock markets around the world plunged on Friday as investors sold off shares, commodities and cryptocurrencies amid concerns that a new coronavirus variant, described as potentially the worst so far identified, could usher in a fresh wave of global pandemic restrictions.
The FTSE 100 suffered its biggest one-day fall since June last year when the pandemic was still in its first phase, closing down 3.6% – knocking £72bn off the value of companies on the index of blue-chip stocks. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2.5% by the close.
