Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 1,139 points at 5,323.75.

Equity view

BT chief executive Philip Jansen said he had tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus and self-isolated.

Premier Oil said it had “significant” liquidity with unrestricted cash of $135m and undrawn facilities of $330m at the end of February as a major creditor said the troubled producer was running out money and needed to review its debt obligations.

Over-50s specialist Saga has suspended operations of its cruises until 1 May - a move that will dent profits by up to £15m - following government advice for people aged 70 and over and those with pre-existing conditions not to travel on cruise ships due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Independent hospital group Spire Healthcare said on Friday that NHS England has asked the company for support during the Covid-19 outbreak.

WH Smith warned that the coronavirus outbreak would reduce annual profit by up to £40m as the outbreak took its toll on the company's airport outlets.

Savills reported steady full-year profits and an increase in revenue on Thursday as it announced the acquisition of US project management firm Macro Consultants and cautioned over the impact of the coronavirus.

Finablr shares plunged by a third after the owner of Travelex said it was reviewing its liquidity and cashflow urgently under pressure from the NMC Health scandal and the coronavirus outbreak.

Computacenter reported a rise in full-year profits on Thursday as solid performances in France and Germany helped to offset weakness in the UK but the company struck a cautious note on the outlook.

UK-based transport operator FirstGroup said it had put its North American contract businesses up for sale as the company rationalised its portfolio, adding that it had received “significant” interest from potential buyers.

Security services company G4S posted a drop in full-year pre-tax profit on Wednesday but a rise in revenue as it reassured investors that it had seen no material impact so far from the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Spirax-Sarco warned the impact of the coronavirus and negative currency movements would offset underlying growth in 2020 as the industrial engineering company reported a 7% increase in adjusted profit for 2019.

Event operator Euromoney warned on Wednesday that full-year profit and revenue would take a hit from the Covid-19 outbreak as it announced the cancellation and postponement of a number of events as the virus takes its toll on the industry.

Specialist media company Future said it was postponing two UK events due to the Covid-19 coronavirus but said it did not expect any impact on profits for the fiscal year from the epidemic.

Asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen reported a fall in adjusted full year profits as revenues fell due to lower fee income.

M&G - which demerged from Prudential in October - posted an in-line decline in full-year pre-tax profit on Tuesday but growth in assets under management, as it announced the launch of a voluntary redundancy scheme.

Domino's Pizza has appointed Matt Shattock as a director and chairman with effect from 16 March.

Distribution and services company Bunzl announced on Monday the acquisition of Bodyguard Workwear, a distributor of safety workwear and other personal protection equipment, for an undisclosed sum.

Tesco said it was selling its Thailand and Malaysia businesses to Thai conglomerate CP Group for $10.6bn (£8.2bn) and planned to return £5bn to shareholders via a special dividend.

Cineworld said on Monday that shareholder Global City Theatres (GCT) has agreed to sell around 7.9% of the company, or 108m shares, for approximately £116m.

Serco Group has signed a six-year contract extension with the Government of Western Australia to continue delivering support services at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, it announced on Monday.

Economic news

Financial Conduct Authority has temporarily banned the short selling of a slew of Italian and Spanish stocks on the FTSE 100 following heavy falls a day earlier on the FTSE MIB and IBEX 35.

British Airways' CEO warned staff that the industry is going through a crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak and expects to make job cuts and ground an unprecedented number of planes.

The UK government is preparing to move to a new phase of its coronavirus action plan, paving the way for school closures, restrictions on big events and enforcing home working, according to reports.

Demand for property purchases and prices increased for the third month running in February but the coronavirus threatens the revival in the housing market, according to the latest RICS survey.

UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a £30bn package of measures to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus and reassure jittery markets as he also pledged a major fiscal boost over the next five years.

The Bank of England slashed its base rate to 0.25% from 0.75% on Wednesday in an emergency move to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus.

Some of the UK’s biggest banks have outlined a number of measures aimed at helping businesses and personal customers survive financial difficulties caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Retail sales struggled in February, as storms, wet weather and flooding conspired to keep shoppers at home, research published on Tuesday showed.

Policymakers at the Bank of England in the UK have told the Prime Minister that they stand ready to act.

A former Governor of the Bank of England cautioned economic authorities against simply resorting to blunt tools such as interest rate cuts and more government spending to protect the economy from the hit to activity levels from the coronavirus.

International events

The People’s Bank of China said on Friday that it will cut the reserve requirement ratio by 50 to 100 basis points for banks that have met inclusive financing targets as it looks to counter the effects of the coronavirus.

As the coronavirus outbreak spreads worldwide, major sporting events are being postponed or cancelled in quick succession.

Rabobank changed its call for interest rate cuts by the US central bank on the back of what it termed the "current market panic and slow progress in effective policy measures by the [US] federal government."

The European Central Bank kept all its main interest rates unchanged, a negative surprise for some analysts, but announced a raft of measures of new financing measures.

Italy has more than tripled the amount of money it has set aside to battle the coronavirus outbreak as European countries scramble to contain the virus.

HSBC believes a eurozone recession is "unavoidable", as coronavirus batters economies across the bloc and wider world.

Saudi Arabia has pledged to flood the market with crude, as its oil price war with former ally Russia escalated.

Italy has suspended all residential mortgage payments after the entire country was placed on lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Investor confidence in the eurozone collapsed in March, hitting a seven-year low amid concerns about the impact of the coronavirus, according to data released on Monday by research group Sentix.

Oil prices crashed more than 30% on Monday as Saudi Arabia sparked a price war after talks between Opec and Russia on production cuts collapsed last Friday.