European stocks fall 6% at the open and Italian stocks fail to trade

European markets tanked on Monday as global investors brace for the the spread of the coronavirus and oil prices fall after the collapse of OPEC talks.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 6% at the start of trading, oil and gas and basic resource stocks plummeting 7.4 percent to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses entered negative territory.

Energy giant BP plunged 24 percent in early trade as oil stocks took a hammering. Britain’s Tullow Oil fell 57 percent.

British industrial rental company Ashtead Group fell 32 percent, investment house Schroders tumbled 30 percent and a host of stocks across the European benchmark shed more than 20 percent as markets descended into turmoil.