this is worklife from bbc news, with sally bundock and david eades. asian stock markets tumble after oil prices fall by more than 30% in the wake of a price war driven by coronavirus fears. live from london, that's our top story on monday the 9th of march. time to fasten your seat belts. the price of the black stuff is sinking like a stone, sending markets into a tailspin we'll explain what's driving the drop.

with a quarter of italy in lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus the looks at what measure can be taken. in the latest blow to hit india's troubled yes bank its founder has been arrested for money laundering. we're live in mumbai for the latest. and could genetics be the key to making big gains in the gym? we'll hear from a company that believes the key to keeping fit is in your dna. today, what changes have you made in your business, workplace, at home due the to coronavirus? tell us your story, just use the hashtag bbcworklife. a warm welcome to the programme. financial markets in europe open for 35 minutes. i have to say, not looking good at all, sea of red, dramatic drops on key indexes across europe. what's driving this today?

the price of oil has fallen to its lowest level in years sparking another bout of selling in international markets. the 30 percent collapse was sparked by saudi arabia's decision to raise production after the oil producers‘ cartel opec had failed to strike a deal with russia to extend or deepen existing production cuts. there is a current glut on the market as industry is hit by a slowdown brought about by the coronavirus epidemic looking at some stocks, shell shares down over 20% currently in london. bp shares, energy companies had extremely hard in europe and in asia today on the stock markets. david. they are big hits, aren't they? our asia business correspondent — karishma vaswani now joins us from singapore for more on this. i suppose coronavirus and the oil price issue is a very heady mix? yes, david, the worst possible

combinations of things to hit the markets at a time when investors in this part of the world are already feeling extremely anxious. what they woke up to was the news about the oil shock and then coupled with the fa ct oil shock and then coupled with the fact that you're starting to see the spread of the coronavirus away from asia into places like italy, the united states, the uk even. getting a sense that these outbreaks are yet to be controlled, that's making people out here very nervous because that's going to have an impact on demand for goods and services. they are worried now about longer term impact that's why you've seen that a dramatic slump in many indices across asia today. in fact, some shares, stock indices seeing and reaching levels we haven't seen since the 2008 global financial crisis. with oil in particular, if this spat persists the knock will be considerable and lengthy? because

now the price is dropping below $50 a barrel, the likes of shale gas in the us cannot compete with that sort of price, they've got bills to pay, they got big investment debts to cover. yes, indeed. some of the analysis, certainly some of the a nalysts analysis, certainly some of the analysts that i've spoken to are saying that's one of the big problems going forward. how are companies that are heavily invested in this space either by producing or exploration of the commodity or selling it, how are they going to end up being able to pay back some of the debts that they may well have taken in the past, at a time when demand is also going down? you are seeing this sort of double whammy hit to the oil markets at the time when people are already feeling extremely sensitive and this is going to affect some key economies in asia as well. countries like malaysia for instance, that make a lot of their revenue from selling oil on the international energy markets and then you are seeing

these kinds of numbers, as you point out, below $50, one analyst said we could even see $20 in 2020, that's a pretty dramatic estimate. that's making a lot of people feel very worried and i think that's why you are seeing the anxiety across asian stocks today. as well as the fact the impact from tourist arrivals are seeing reduced numbers across the region, that's a big revenue earner for many asian economies are also being hit by that. thank you very much for that. let's get more from michael hewson chief market analyst with cmc markets. joining us from the trading floor in london. michael, a sharp intake of breath this morning when the markets open? yes, feeling a little bit queasy. bit of vertigo, sally, big falls in the oil markets, biggest falls in the oil markets, biggest fall since 91 in the gulf war. more importantly we are on course for european equity markets especially the ftse 100 to see the biggest fall since october 2008 in percentage

terms. bp down 20%, royal dutch shell opened 25% lower. pretty much a sea of red across the board. what now? we knew it was going to be volatile for some time but this seems to be pretty extreme to me. volatile for some time but this seems to be pretty extreme to mem does but i think you've got to look at it through the prism of where we've come from over the last 12 years. the last 12 years we've been going steadily higher for quite some time. there is another lot of traders out there at the moment i don't really know what a bear market feels like and i think some of the time but you could be seeing is a little bit of overextension in terms of these declines. not that it's probably not well overdue, but there's a probably not well overdue, but there'sa numberof probably not well overdue, but there's a number of economic shocks there's a number of economic shocks the traders are having to deal with, the traders are having to deal with, the coronavirus, price war between shouting arabia and russia. it's in neither of those countries interests for oil prices to remain at levels they are currently trading at the time being. but that's not to say they can't play a waiting game with

each other and i certainly think there's an element of saudi arabia looking to punish iran as well. iran will be a significant victim of oil prices at these low levels. sol think this is quite some way to go. the other big problem i think at the moment for investors is where is the base because of the moment there doesn't appear to be one, four central banks are ivan policymakers. —— or even policymakers. the prediction for wall street is pretty dire today when they open later. what are you saying to your clients right now amidst all this volatility? well i think if you've got any positions, if you don't have any positions, stay out of the market until things settle down but ultimately i think what we are looking for is a significantly lower us open. unless you've got something that you need to get out of, you need to write this up because we are going to see an awful lot of volatility in the days and weeks ahead and hopefully we will see some

significant rebound is as well. all right, michael, good to talk to you, thank you and have a good day, if you can! i don't envy you michael or anyone on the trading floor. you can feel the anxiety there, very palpable with michael. let's look at some of the other stories making the news today. italy says it plans to further increase spending to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. prime minister giuseppe conte says he is studying various initiatives between today and tomorrow before he meet representatives of the opposition to discuss the new economic measures. more than 7,300 people have been infected in the country with some 16 million others under new quarantine rules. australia is suing facebook over allegedly breaching the privacy of over 300,000 australians caught up in the cambridge analytica scandal. the country's regulator says the social media giant breached privacy law by disclosing users' information for political profiling via a survey product on its website. lastjuly, facebook was fined a record $5 billion in the us after a probe triggered by the same user personality quiz.

japan's economy has shrank faster than initially estimated in the quarter ending in december last year. it's the biggest drop in more than five years. the economy is under growing pressure as the coronavirus outbreak disrupts supply chains and damages tourism, which follows the hit to consumption after october's sales tax hike. in the latest blow to hit india's troubled yes bank its founder rana kapoor has been arrested for money laundering and questioned for more than 20 hours by officials. the country's fourth—largest private lender has been struggling with bad loans. for more i'm joined from delhi by our india business reporter arunoday mukharji. what is the latest? he's been arrested and essentially probed for bribes that he allegedly received,

worth about a.d1 million dollars in lieu of bad loans. yes bank certainly in trouble, india central bank drawing up of rescue plan which involves india's largest bank to come in and bump in about $331 million, 14 9% stake but the big impact being felt by depositors, they've been having trouble with credit and debit cards over the weekend, also had some significant problems as far as net banking operations are concerned. and the other big concern is until the 3rd of april, as per the reserve bank of india, they cannot withdraw money beyond $700, that certainly pension customers. thank you for the latest on that. let's show you the numbers. even talking about markets throughout the programme, let's bring you some data. the nikki closing down 5% lower during the trading session. weaker than that, down over 6%, you can see hong kong, a similar story. here's the price of oil, rent currently trading at $35 a

barrel, $20 down on the price. nearly 10% drop. look at europe. no surprise. the big losers today across europe oi’ surprise. the big losers today across europe or the oil companies. bp shares down 18%. shell shares down a similar amount when they open. both down over 20% when they open. both down over 20% when they open. the ftse down eight and a half percent at the moment. you can see wea kness percent at the moment. you can see weakness right across the board. but london being hit hardest. the big oil stocks are listed on the ftse 100. that's why they are really feeling the pain. look at that, the good old safe haven, if you got a bar of gold under the bed, it's going to be all right! david. or two of sally, thank you. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. we'rejoined by iona bain, founder of the young money blog — a site which helps young people better understand personal finance.

good day to have you in. let's start on borisjohnson good day to have you in. let's start on boris johnson ‘s good day to have you in. let's start on borisjohnson ‘s government, another emergency meeting to see what next steps are. i've enjoyed a wealth of sporting entertainment over the weekend. but these are the sorts of things, i suppose, which could be on the line? yes, we are going to see an intensification, shall we say, of the measures designed to try and limit the impact of coronavirus and this could involve what is euphemistically called social isolation, minimising social contact. and therefore we could see the government today recommending that more people work from home. which could come as a surprise to some. i think at the moment, we are seeing denial in certain parts of the business community about how serious this could get. and also because people are not necessarily used to working from home. they may find that quite a big adjustment to make. and unless we see more cases of a big adjustment to make. and unless we see more cases of coronavirus close to home, and other words affecting people that we know, it

could well be the case that we are not necessarily taking it as seriously as we could? in a sense, the government and authorities are slightly ahead of the curve, a lot of the time, aren't they? we've talked a lot about containment, they are moving on to delay, the next phase. absolutely, moving to that phase. absolutely, moving to that phase but the problem is they don't wa nt phase but the problem is they don't want to cause any more panic than is necessary. so i think these measures are going to be introduced quite gradually. but it's really down to citizens to try and take this responsibility seriously. and also for employers as well, do not necessarily encourage those who can work from home to come to work, go on public transport and therefore be around other people and potentially spread the virus. i think if you go to the supermarket and you look at the shows, you might think people are taking it a bit too seriously. it depends on where you are looking, doesn't it? weeks where you've got to quarantine yourself? david, you will need a lot of toilet roll. the times newspaper saying self isolation could be a blessing in disguise. what does this article say

in terms of sub—isolation? disguise. what does this article say in terms of sub-isolation? trying to look on the bright side of things of what could be coming down the tracks. self isolation is quite serious. it's the more extreme response that some people will have to adopt which is whereby theyjust lock the doors and don't really see anybody for a few weeks. but actually, what we are talking about today with this cobra meeting, the possibility of more people working from home, it's not quite as extreme as that and i think what she's trying to highlight in this piece is we need to get used to working in peace and quiet again. we need to get used to working on our own and modern office light means we are consta ntly modern office light means we are constantly surrounded by people, all the hustle and bustle and noise that comes with working in an office. suddenly, to go from bad to working from home could be a massive adjustment for people but it's something we are all going to have to get used to. it's funny, we were talking about this in the green room, talking about this in the green room , you talking about this in the green room, you like a really quiet working environment will assign the opposite. i can't bear it, i like noise, i think its being in a newsroom , you're noise, i think its being in a newsroom, you're used to noise and if there isn't noise, i get worried,

i start to panic. i don't get worried but i thought we could move onto the next part of that which is about having pods and offices. it strikes me that in the office, if i can hear what someone else is having asa can hear what someone else is having as a conversation, that really annoys me. if there is a hubbub, i've got no problem, it depends a little bit on what sort of noise, ambient noise you are getting. it's interesting, this wired article suggest if you can hear the conversations it reduces your concentration by 10%. the same for me. ithink concentration by 10%. the same for me. i think the problem concentration by 10%. the same for me. ithink the problem is concentration by 10%. the same for me. i think the problem is offices now are so one size me. i think the problem is offices now are so one size fits all, aren't they? they don't take into account lots of different ways of working. i personally am a bit of an introvert so personally am a bit of an introvert soi personally am a bit of an introvert so i need to have that space on my own. i think with coronavirus, we could see actually, one positive impact which is that more people understand the kind of productivity gains of working on your own. and having a bit of peace and quiet. this story in wired talks about pods

in more places, not sleep pods which are the kind of pulse i would like to see! i would love a sleep pods which are the kind of pots i would like to see! i would love a sleep—out at work, amazing. like to see! i would love a sleep-out at work, amazing. these are like the tardis, little places you seal yourself off. but the problem is they are too extreme. they are the pods you get told off in! when the boss wants to see you ina pod, in! when the boss wants to see you in a pod, you know you're in trouble. good to see you. thank you so much. still to come, could genetics be the key to making big gains in the gym? we'll hear from a company that believes the key to keeping fit is in your dna. you're with worklife from bbc news. they say the weather affects our shopping, it absolutely does. it is not a myth. persistent rain in february has impacted the high street. it's been terrible, hasn't it? an average of 17 days of rain meant

shoppers stayed away, with even under—cover retail centres seeing the number of visitors fall. and the situation could become even more dire, with threat of coronavirus taking hold. diane wehrle is marketing & insights director at springboard. diane, we are looking at a terrible number, terrible month again for the high street. are we just all shopping online, the online retailers winning while at the high street retailers are losing? certainly we are shopping at least in part online. around 20% of our spendis in part online. around 20% of our spend is online. but that belies the impact also at the impact on our browsing. we do quite a lot of browsing. we do quite a lot of browsing online. we make fewer trips now and what we've seen over the la st now and what we've seen over the last decade is a drop in footfall of around 1—2% every year. and that's the long underlying trend that we are seeing and then in fabric of course, are seeing and then in fabric of course , we are seeing and then in fabric of course, we had this horrendous rain and it was persistent. you mentioned 17 days across the uk, in wales there were 21 days out of 29 of

rain. it's not surprising that high street footfall was impacted. do you think there might be something in the budget for those poor high street retailers for example a cut in business rates are something of that nature? that's what the retailers have been calling for. they have. this is a long—term lobbying exercise and certainly one thatis lobbying exercise and certainly one that is much needed and we have heard some inkling around possible discounts for smaller retailers which will welcome it still doesn't change the fact that rates are still in situ and the whole tax is actually an archaic tax, it's a property —based land tax. and it was created centuries ago and it simply not relevant to the retail landscape today. diane, we've got to leave it there but thank you so much. yet more grim news coming from the high street in terms of footfall in the month of february. ijust want to highlight the top story. if you want to keep track of financial markets today, if you've got the stomach for that, it is the top story online.

global shares plunge after oil prices crash. lots of detail, the ftse 100 as i prices crash. lots of detail, the ftse100 as i mentioned down by over 8%. there is a lot of extra help and detail, eight charts on how it has shaken the economy so far, being the coronavirus, of course. take a look. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story: stock markets have plunged, with energy firms battered by a crash in oil prices as a result of a price war between opec and russia. now, here's a question for gym enthusiasts. if you go to the gym, are you conscious of your dna and your integral effectiveness? most of us

properly aren't, we haven't got a clue! well, our next guest, avi lasarow, believes your genetic make—up may be the root cause. he's the chief executive of prenetics international, a parent firm of circle—dna, which tests your dna to find the best personalised fitness regimes. thank you very much forjoining us. thank you very much forjoining us. thank you very much forjoining us. thank you for having me here. you've been involved in dna testing for quite a long time. what brought you into what looks like the consumer side of a health business? circle dna, we think is the most comprehensive direct to consumer dna test in the world. we speak about how genetics have an impact on your fitness regime or nutrition guide in terms of what you eat. but this test is so exciting because it looks not so is so exciting because it looks not so much more, 500 reports across 20 different categories, looking at things for example like predisposition to cancer, lifestyle diseases, what drives your body responds, and of course fitness and nutrition. sorry, i was responds, and of course fitness and nutrition. sorry, iwasjust going to say the key to all of that has to

be how accurate is it? out much of it can be actually look at and think, that is me in the future?” mean, in terms of accuracy, what is exciting about this test, we look at 31 million data points using special sequencing. use our technology to inform different categories of how you indicate we respond to exercise, which is a genetic correlation and most importantly health. genetics isn't everything, it's only a part of the picture but what these tests do this test does is it really allows you to adapt lifestyle based on genetic risks. i must admit there's quite a lot that these dna products out there at the moment and you see the average so the time and think a lot of it, it plays on our fears, that we could be predisposed to may be getting a type of cancer or some other type of illness in the future. and some of them are a lot cheaper than yours, around £100 mark. uses £500, roughly around there? correct. but all of you say

ours is correct, ours is accurate, it is the most comprehensive. do you have independent scientific proof to show us that that £500 investment is worth it? absolutely. i was privileged myself to actually give evidence at the uk office of science and technology committee hearing on commercial genomics in the uk and the things come into question its duty of care to customer, do they get a result which makes think differently or worry? what we do about that we have our own fully employed genetic counsellors who help individuals understand what role genetics plays in the context of their life. that's the first thing. accuracy is very important. that's why this test is so distant because it uses special sequencing and because new you mentioned that a few times, what is it? the protein coding regions of your dna, you are looking at that, together with the remainder of the dna, just so with the remainder of the dna, just so much more with the remainder of the dna, just so much more accurate with the remainder of the dna, just so much more accurate because of these different data points. duty of care, of course there's the accuracy and of course privacy, people are

concerned about data protection, that's a big issue. companies like us, we have something called iso 27,001, the global standard for data information security, essentially. cani information security, essentially. can i ask you a question, i understand if you are getting a test for possibly a type of cancer that may be your mother had or your father or something like that? you can see the sense in that. when it comes to fitness, though, what is your test actually telling me that i might do differently western work is it less dumb bells and running? what does it do? when it comes to fitness we look at a number of categories, one is power endurance response, or company won two queens awards in the la st company won two queens awards in the last couple of years for that particular algorithm. last couple of years for that particularalgorithm. it last couple of years for that particular algorithm. it tells you essentially how your body response to exercise. this particular panel, if you are a power —based individual you should have more power base training, if you are endurance base like i am new to incorporate much more enduring space. really briefly, why isn't this being used across the

board in say the nhs? if you get a quick swab it will tell you what your predisposition is and what drugs you will respond to most effectively? presumably we should save the nhs are forging? great question and certainly the uk leader in genetic research, 100,000 genomes project, if i can give your personal example. my wife has rheumatoid arthritis, she was prescribed the drug, actually told me for the last eight or nine months it wasn't having the effect she thought it would have, she did the test and she found out from a drug response perspective that drug is not suited for her so we could have saved the nhs money, could have saved her a lot of pain so the answer to your question is the nhs certainly will be implementing as they are more and more genetic products like this moving forward. we got to stop there. we could talk for hours, fascinating. still a long way to go, you can still get better and better, presumably? it's so exciting but is just the beginning. nice to meet you. thank you so much. at the top of the show, with one company using old—fashioned egg timers to remind staff

to wash their hands, we asked what changes you've made in the workplace to yourself against coronavirus. let's take a look at how some viewers have responded: that is jane, isn't it? shall i see ifi that is jane, isn't it? shall i see if i can get this one? let's assure you the markets really quickly. i don't need the autocue for this. i shouldn't get this wrong. literally the european markets. if we can go to next board. trading right now. the ftse100 down. almost eight and a half

percent. that's it from worklife today. good morning. this week stays quite changeable. that means it's going to be quite windy at times, some rain or some of us. particularly today. while it's a dry and fairly bright start for many of us, we will see the rain moving in from the west. you can see here on the satellite quite a clear picture at the moment across the uk. this cloud out in the atlantic, all linked into an area of low pressure, situated round about here. those with moving in, the flight here. those with moving in, the flight line is getting closer together, turning quite breezy into the afternoon as well. for central and eastern parts, initially some sunshine. we will hold onto the brighter weather well into this afternoon. elsewhere the cloud increasing, with that rain spreading

by lunchtime into scotland, wales, the south—west, gradually pushing further eastwards as the afternoon goes on. maximum temperatures getting up to around nine — 12 degrees. through tonight, the rain eventually moving into eastern parts. clearing away. there will be further rain into wales and north—west of england. there is some concern in those areas with all the rainfall this afternoon and through tonight, some fairly high rainfall totals to be expected. overnight lows for 8 degrees. going into tuesday, very mild south—westerly wind, temperature is really rising quite high in the south—east, this weather system daisy chaining down to the south—west, meaning further outbreaks of rain during the morning particularly in wales and north west england. the rain largely clearing the way to showers by the afternoon, some sunny spells. staying quite cloudy across the south. still some rain moving into wales, quite windy conditions for many of us on tuesday. gusts of 50 — 55 miles an

hour. as i mentioned, quite mild, temperatures 15, 16 celsius in the south—east of england. with chillier than that further north, eight or 9 degrees. into the rest of the week, these weather systems coming from these weather systems coming from the south—west, even into wednesday, still some wet weather. another weather system coming into the north—west, on wednesday some showers, some of that will be wintry, especially over the higher of scotland. further showers pushing their way into northern ireland. staying quite cloudy across the south end here, the chance of some light rain and drizzle throughout the day on wednesday. temperatures coming down a little bit, generally again, 7—13d. that's all from me. goodbye.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me, carrie gracie — the headlines: the prime minister is preparing to chair a meeting of the cobra emergency committee to discuss plans to delay the spread of coronavirus after a third person dies in the uk. as italy's death toll reaches 366, the foreign office warns against all but essential travel to northern italy, where16 million people are in lockdown. markets concern — the ftse falls 9% after opening this morning. overnight, oil prices crash by nearly a third. we'll be getting the latest on the spread of the virus — dr al edwards, who specialises in immunology and vaccines, will be with us shortly.