Europe is prepping for extended lockdowns, while some states in the U.S. are gearing up to reopen their economies. Demand for oil has dried up, just after a historic OPEC+ alliance agreement on cutting supply. And the car industry faces troubling months ahead. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today.

The Straits Times Index ended Monday down 4.07 points or 0.16 per cent at 2,567.25 points. Decliners outnumbered advancers 204 to 178 for the day, with 789.43 million shares worth S$713.63 million changing hands.

Wall Street stocks retreated in early trading Monday ahead of key earnings reports from banks and other companies that will highlight the implications of shutdowns imposed to counter the coronavirus. A few minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.8 per cent at 23,538.67.

Asian bonds recorded their biggest foreign outflows in at least seven years in March, as investors turned risk averse on concerns over the coronavirus outbreak and chased safer assets such as the US dollar and money market instruments. Foreigners sold a net US$17.28 billion worth of regional bonds last month, the highest since at least January 2013, according to data from regional banks and bond market associations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and India.

First Reit is keeping two of its malls in Indonesia closed for another two weeks - till April 28 - as the country looks to curb movement further amid surging Covid-19 cases. The two malls – Lippo Plaza Kupang and Lippo Plaza Buton – were initially to have been closed only from April 1 to April 14, although certain essential services such as supermarkets, pharmacies and clinics have stayed open.

Singapore-based cancer diagnostics company Biolidics on Monday said it has notified and received acknowledgement from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the intended distribution of its Covid-19 rapid test kits in the US. The Catalist-listed firm's kits will be allowed for use by clinical laboratories or healthcare workers for point-of-care testing, but not for home testing.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR