GLOBAL MARKETS-Virus fears push Asian stocks to 7-week low, boost safe-haven assets

* Virus death toll rises, WHO to reconsider declaring
emergency
* Stocks extend falls, safe-haven assets sought
* Fed inflation comments send U.S. bond yields to 3-month
low
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Asian stocks and currencies
fell on Thursday as the death toll from a new virus spreading in
China rose and more cases were reported around the world.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged on
Wednesday the risks from any slowdown in the world's
second-largest economy but said it was too early to say what the
extent of the impact would be on the United States. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1.7% to an almost seven-week low. It has
dropped for six straight sessions.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 dropped 2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng
.HSI fell 1.7% and has lost more than 8% in the 10 days since
the spread of the virus roiled markets.
Taiwan's benchmark index .TWII slumped 4.9%, which if
sustained would be its biggest daily drop in 15 months, in its
first session since the Lunar New Year break. The Taiwan dollar
TWD=TP fell half a percentage point to its lowest this year.
Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries, which fall when
prices rise, hit a three-month low of 1.5600% US10YT=RR .
China's National Health Commission said on Thursday the
total number of confirmed deaths from the coronavirus in the
country climbed to 170 as of late Wednesday and the number of
infected patients rose to 7,711. Infections have been reported in at least 15 other countries
and in every province of mainland China. Sweden's IKEA said on
Thursday that it has temporarily closed all its stores in China
because of the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
"In a matter of days, the coronavirus has shuffled the
cards, and Fed policy is not sitting quite as comfortably," said
Alan Ruskin, Chief International Strategist at Deutsche Bank.
"The Fed, like everybody else, is going to have a tough time
quantifying the scale of the potentially large shock emanating
out of China."
Most analysts have looked to the impact from the 2002-2003
spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which
pounded tourism and confidence, albeit briefly.
J.P. Morgan economists on Thursday said a big negative shock
in the current quarter could knock China's growth from a
previously-forecast 6.3% to 4.9%, for a year-on-year figure of
5.6%. ING economists made a similar forecast on Wednesday.
"The SARS episode in 2003 suggests that the shock could lead
to a large impact on economic activity, especially as the fear
factor could restrict people's mobility," J.P. Morgan analysts
wrote.
"The spillover effect from China to the rest of world tends
to be much larger than the SARS episode," they added, pointing
out China's share of the world economy has more than trebled
since then.
The World Health Organisation's Emergency Committee is due
to reconvene on Thursday to decide whether the rapid spread of
the virus now constitutes a global emergency. SOUGHT
Elsewhere, investors sought safe-haven assets. Gold extended
overnight gains to rally 0.2% to $1,579.45 per ounce XAU= .
GOL/
Wall Street turned from positive to close flat.
Oil prices, a barometer of the expected impact of the virus
on the world's economy, resumed their slide. U.S. crude CLc1
and Brent crude LCOc1 each shed a percentage point, with Brent
last trading at $59.21 per barrel.
China's yuan CNY=CFXS , which had steadied on Wednesday,
was again falling - dropping 0.2% to 6.9871 per dollar along
with other trade-exposed currencies in the region.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 , New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 ,
Korean won KRW= all fell, while the safe havens of the
Japanese yen JPY= and Swiss franc CHF= were firm. FRX/
And the mood extended the rally in U.S. government bonds
which began after Fed Chairman Powell indicated inflation was
too low.
The central bank "is not satisfied with inflation running
below 2% and it is not a ceiling," Powell said. With the Fed's
targeted core inflation running at 1.6%, the remark was
interpreted as scene-setting for a rate cut, with markets now
pricing in a 10% chance it could come in March. FEDWATCH

(Editing by Sam Holmes and Jacqueline Wong)