World oil prices crashed on Monday, fuelling a vicious selloff on stock markets — which were already buckling under intense pressure over the spreading deadly coronavirus.

Stocks tanked as the global oil market nosedived 30 per cent at one stage after top exporter Saudi Arabia slashed the prices it charges customers following a bust-up with Russia over crude production.

The dollar slid versus the yen, a haven investment.

“The markets have passed from panic mode into pure hysteria,” said Ayush Ansal, chief investment officer at trading firm Crimson Black Capital.

“Markets were at breaking point before Saudi Arabia's decision to launch an oil price war, but this latest development has taken them beyond that.”

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia had last week wanted Russia to join the cartel in deep production cuts after world prices had already tanked on forecasts of plunging demand because of COVID-19.

However, Moscow declined, triggering Riyadh's move to preserve market share and sideline its closest competitor — but creating fresh markets chaos.

“The war against the coronavirus is turning into a war for oil export markets,” said analyst Tamas Varga at oil broker PVM Associates.

The dizzying oil drop — the steepest since the 1991 Gulf War — sent investors fleeing for safety alongside mounting fears over the worsening fatal coronavirus, which has seen Italy lock down a swathe of its north.

'Black Monday'

“This will be remembered as Black Monday,” said analyst Neil Wilson at trading site Markets.com.

In late morning deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top British companies was down 6.3pc having tumbled by almost 9pc early on.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 slumped 6.8pc and the Paris CAC 40 dived 6.9pc, compared with the closing levels on Friday.

Italy's stock market took the heaviest battering after a chunk of the county's northern region was sealed off — including Milan and Venice — as authorities struggled to contain the spread and impact of coronavirus. In exceptionally volatile trade, Milan's FTSE MIB index spiralled 9.9pc lower.

As the deadly disease claims more lives around the world, dealers are shedding riskier assets for safe havens, sending gold and the yen surging and pushing US Treasury yields to record lows.

While governments and central banks have unleashed or prepared stimulus measures, the spread of COVID-19 is putting a huge strain on economies and stoking concerns of a worldwide recession.

Trading floors in Asia were also a sea of red, with Tokyo plunging more than 5pc by the close, while Hong Kong dived 4.2pc. Sydney shed 7.3pc.

Saudi equities tanked more than 9pc with oil titan Aramco's share price losing 10pc. Dubai and Kuwait stock markets sank a similar amount, while Abu Dhabi was almost 8pc down.

Energy firms hammered

Oil majors also bore the brunt of a fierce wave of selling as dealers dumped stocks exposed to tanking oil prices, while other commodities firms nursed heavy losses.

Hong Kong-listed CNOOC tumbled 17pc and PetroChina more than 9pc, while in Tokyo, Inpex dived 13pc. In Sydney, Santos dived 27pc and Woodside Petroleum tanked 18.4pc.

In London, BP shares dived 18.2pc and Shell 12.7pc. French energy major Total slumped 11.6pc.

Among miners, Anglo American shed 9.4pc and BHP Billiton sank 14pc.

Analysts meanwhile warned of further gyrations as the outbreak shows no sign of abating, with more than 110,000 people infected in scores of countries — including Italy, which is now the hardest-hit country outside China.

Key figures around 1140 GMT

Brent Crude: DOWN 20.7pc at $35.91 per barrel; West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 22.5pc at $31.98; Milan - FTSE MIB: DOWN 9.6pc at 18,807.74 points; London - FTSE 100: DOWN 6.3pc at 6,058.17; Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 6.1pc at 10,842.35; Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 6.3pc at 4,818.04; EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 6.4pc at 3,025.68; Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 5.1pc at 19,698.76 (close); Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 4.2pc at 25,040.46 (close); Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 3.0pc at 2,943.29 (close); Sydney - S&P/ASX 200: DOWN 7.3pc at 5,760.60; New York - Dow: DOWN 1.0pc at 25,864.78 (Friday's close); Dollar/yen: DOWN at 102.53 yen from 105.39 yen at 2200 GMT; Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1386 from $1.1284; Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3135 from $1.3048; Euro/pound: UP at 86.66 pence from 86.48 pence.