Sri Lanka stock saw declines on Tuesday (25) following an overnight plunge on Wall Street as fears of the economic impact from the coronavirus outbreak spread.

In equities, Colombo’s All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell 66.37 points to close at 5,730.93 and S&P SL20 index of more liquid stocks fell 1.44% or 39.91 points to close 2,731.39.

Market turnover was Rs. 591.6 million.

Meanwhile, global financial markets also saw some of the sharpest falls in years on Monday as the spread of the coronavirus that has ravaged China threatens economic havoc on a global scale.

In the US, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 posted their sharpest daily declines since 2018, with the Dow falling 3.5% or more than 1,000 points.

The S&P 500 ended the day 3.3% lower, while the Nasdaq sank 3.7%.

The UK's FTSE 100 share index closed 3.3% lower, the sharpest drop since January 2016.

In Italy, which has seen Europe's worst outbreak of the virus, Milan's stock market plunged nearly 6%.

The financial toll spiked after reports over the weekend of sharp increases in the number of cases in South Korea, Italy and Iran.

Italy, which Moody’s says will fall into recession this quarter because of the virus, has the largest known outbreak outside of asia, with more than 200 confirmed cases and six deaths as of Monday. The caseload in South Korea, a critical link in the technology industry’s pan-Asian supply chain, climbed to 833.

About 77,000 people in China, where the virus emerged last year, have been infected and nearly 2,600 have died.