Brent futures fall $2 as coronavirus concerns grow

Tokyo — Brent crude futures futures slid $2/b or more than 3% in early trading hours in Europe Monday amid growing concerns from developments related to the coronavirus in China.

Many Asian markets were closed Monday for the Lunar New Year holiday.

At 0935 GMT, March ICE Brent futures were down $2/b (3.3%) from Friday's settle to $58.69/b, while the NYMEX March light sweet crude contract dived $1.83/b (3.4%) to $52.36/b.

Chinese health authorities announced Monday that 2,744 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus, including 461 in critical conditions, had been reported in the country by the end of Sunday, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The disease had resulted in a total of 80 deaths by the end of Sunday, while 51 people had recovered amid 5,794 suspected cases, according to Xinhua.

Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Sunday that the kingdom was "closely monitoring the developments in the global oil market resulting from the gloomy expectations about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the Chinese and the global economy and oil market fundamentals," according to a report from the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The SPA also quoted the Saudi energy minister as saying that the impact of the outbreak on oil and other commodities is "primarily driven by psychological factors and extremely negative expectations adopted by some market participants despite its very limited impact on global oil demand."