European stocks are seen opening sharply lower on Friday amid worries that new variants of the coronavirus<\/span> could derail the growth rebound seen in Europe. <\/p>\n
European countries expanded booster vaccinations and tightened curbs overnight after scientists in South Africa said they had detected a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant with more than 30 mutation spreads.<\/p>\n
Slovakia went into a two-week lockdown and authorities in the Czech Republic have declared a 30-day of emergency as Germany crossed the threshold of 100,000 Covid-19-related deaths.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom has temporarily suspended flights from six countries hours after the World Health Organization gave a briefing on the new variant.<\/p>\n
The organization has called for a special meeting today to discuss what the new variant may mean for vaccines and treatments.<\/p>\n
Asian markets<\/span> slumped, with benchmark indexes in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and India falling around 2 percent. <\/p>\n
The dollar edged lower against the yen while a risk-off sentiment in asset markets drove investors to gold.<\/p>\n
Oil prices fell more than 2 percent on fears of weaker demand and amid concerns that a global supply surplus could swell in the first quarter. <\/p>\n
In economic releases, German import price figures for October and French consumer sentiment survey results are due later in the session.<\/p>\n
U.S. markets were closed overnight for Thanksgiving. European markets closed higher on Thursday as strong U.S. data helped offset concerns over a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Europe and policy tightening in the U.S. <\/p>\n
Minutes of the Fed’s last meeting revealed a hawkish tilt on the board while those from the ECB’s Oct 28 meeting showed an upgrade to the inflation views. <\/p>\n
The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4 percent. The German DAX and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 both gained around 0.3 percent, while France’s CAC 40 index added half a percent. <\/p>\n
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