GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks under pressure after biggest quarterly drop since 2008

* S&P 500 futures slide in Asia, Nikkei also falls
* U.S. coronavirus deaths top 700 in single day
* Pandemic threatens sharp global slowdown
* Yen gains after Federal Reserves new measures

By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, March 31 (Reuters) - Asian shares faced another
leg lower on Wednesday as the coronavirus sharply slows global
growth, leading a gauge of world stocks to post its biggest
quarterly decline in more than a decade and oil prices to trade
near lows last seen in 2002.
Shares on Wall Street tumbled on Tuesday, with the Dow
registering its biggest quarterly fall since 1987 and the S&P
500 its steepest quarterly drop since a decade ago on growing
evidence of the massive downturn the pandemic will incur.
L1N2BO2RR
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 traded 1% lower in
after-hours trade, while Asian futures suggested the rout would
continue.
FTSE China A50 futures SFCc1 in Singapore were down 0.85%
and Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 1.86% in early trade.
The first-quarter decline was the biggest on record for the
S&P 500 as consumers hunkered down at home, leading businesses
to announce massive staff furloughs and to shut temporarily.
U.S. economic activity is likely to be "very bad" and the
unemployment rate could rise above 10% because of efforts to
slow the spread of the coronavirus, Cleveland Federal Reserve
Bank President Loretta Mester told CNBC. L1N2BO2UT
The United States marked 700 deaths in a single day from
COVID-19 for the first time on Tuesday, lifting total U.S.
fatalities from the disease to more than 3,700. L1N2BO0S9
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS gained 0.35% in early trade.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
0.48% following modest gains in Europe. The index fell nearly
22% for the quarter.
Bucking the broader decline, Australian shares opened higher
as a slowdown in new coronavirus cases brightened investor
sentiment while rising iron ore prices gave miners a lift.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 1.59% after the
benchmark fell 2% on Tuesday.
The number of coronavirus infections globally headed toward
800,000. Deutsche Bank analysts noted, however, that for two
consecutive days the global growth in new cases was below 10%,
having exceeded that rate for most of the past two weeks.
Health officials were much more cautious. A World Health
Organization official warned that even in the Asia-Pacific
region, the epidemic was "far from over."
The dollar slid against a basket of currencies, pressured by
the latest Federal Reserve measures to ensure sufficient
liquidity in the global financial system.
The Fed is now allowing foreign central banks to exchange
their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities for overnight dollar
loans. The dollar index =USD fell 0.275% while the Japanese yen
JPY= strengthened 0.12% versus the greenback at 107.44 per
dollar.
Government bond yields held steady as investors remained
cautious about buying riskier assets.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note US10YT=RR rose
15/32 in price to yield 0.6538%.
Crude oil benchmarks ended a volatile quarter with their
biggest losses in history, with both U.S. and Brent futures
hammered throughout March due to the pandemic and the eruption
of the Saudi-Russia price war.
Global fuel demand has been sharply cut by travel
restrictions due to the coronavirus. Forecasters at major
merchants and banks see demand slumping by 20% to 30% in April,
and for weak consumption to linger for months. Crude futures ended the quarter down nearly 70% after record
losses in March.
U.S. crude CLcv1 fell 31 cents to $20.17 a barrel and May
Brent crude futures LCOcv1 ended 2 cents lower at $22.74 a
barrel ahead of expiration.

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