FTSE 100 plunges 8% amid coronavirus fears and oil trade war
The FTSE 100 has plunged more than eight per cent amid market fears over the coronavirus and an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
It marks one of the biggest drops at the opening of trading since the Brexit referendum in 2016, with the FTSE losing more than 500 points.
Oil companies and those with links to the industry were especially badly hit, after the value of a barrel dropped by around 30 per cent.
The value of BP stocks dropped by more than 21 per cent on Monday.
It comes ahead of the first budget of the Boris Johnson era this week.
The fuel duty is turning into one of the central talking points of Rishi Sunak's first test as chancellor.
A total of 36 backbench MPs, including former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have called on Mr Sunak to not “balance environmentalism on the backs of working people”.
In a letter due to be delivered on Monday to 11 Downing Street, the group adds “every penny of a fuel price rise hits their financial security”.
