A sharp drop casted a shadow today in most global markets, and the oil market was not an expectations from that, as oil prices turned lower to deepen their losses amid concerns over the coronavirus.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) will release later today its preliminary data on US crude inventories, and the US Energy Information Administration will release the official report tomorrow.

Several countries, such as Switzerland, Austria, Bahrain, Kuwait, South Korea and Italy, led by China, announced further cases and deaths of the coronavirus.

The dollar index was lower by 0.4% to reach 98.9 points at 18:30 GMT, after it hit earlier an intraday high of 99.3 and a low of 98.9.

As for oil prices, WTI crude lost 2.3% to trade at $50.2 a barrel as of 18:27 GMT, with a high of $52.02 and a low of $50.1.

Brent fell 2% to $55.1 a barrel, after it hit a high of $56.9 and a low of $55.1.

The US stocks opened slightly higher on Tuesday, after Wall Street suffered sharp losses yesterday due to increasing signs over the spread of the coronavirus in a multiple countries beyond China.

The Donald Trump administration requested $2.5 billion for emergency funding from the US Congress to counter the coronavirus economic impact.

Italy and South Korea also revealed today that the number of coronavirus infected cases and deaths increased, with others countries such as Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain and Japan.

The World Health Organisation urged most countries to intensify efforts and contain the virus, and pointed out that "Remdesivir" is the only drug currently that may have real efficacy in treating the coronavirus.

In stocks market, Dow Jones rose by less than 0.1% or 3 points to trade at 27,964 as of 15:18 GMT, Nasdaq rose 0.1% or 6 points to 9,227, and S&P 500 rose 0.2% 8 points to 3,234.

Oil prices rose in European trade today, to head for the first daily gain in 4 day, within recovery attempts from a 2-week low, after the Saudi Minister of Energy reassured the market about the OPEC-Plus measures, but the gains remain limited due to lingering fears over the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea, the Middle East and Europe.

US crude rose to $52.01 a barrel, after opening at $51.32, and Brent crude rose to $56.96, after opening at $56.14.

The US crude lost 3.8% yesterday, to post its third daily loss and a 2-week low of $50.46, and Brent crude futures fell 3.9% and posted the lowest since February 13 at $55.16.

These sharp daily losses, which is largest since January 30, came after the rapid coronavirus spread beyond China escalated fears over weaker oil demand in the market.

Oil prices gained around 2% during the past week, to post the second straight weekly gain, after signs of a slowdown in coronavirus infections in China, US sanctions on Venezuela, and Libyan oil output drop.

The Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, expressed today that he is confident about the OPEC-Plus collation, but stressed that the organization has not take any decision regarding the cut agreement yet.

While most experts are almost certain OPEC-Plus will take measures to balance oil markets, due to pressures from the coronavirus outbreak.

CEO of the Saudi Oil Company Aramco, Amin Nasser, told Reuters on Monday that Aramco expects the coronavirus to have an impact on the short-term demand, as consumption will rise in the second half of this year.

China announced today the total of coronavirus infected cases rose to 80,000 cases, and its death toll rose to 2,500 victims, which is ten time larger than impact of the SARS virus in 2002/03.       

Copper futures edged lower on Tuesday, to keep yesterday's losses due to global concerns over the coronavirus spread.

China revealed that the coronavirus death toll and infections rose once again.

Whilst, the virus spread in both Italy and South Korea escalated market's fears over a possible global pandemic, especially after more infections emerged in France, Kuwait and Bahrain.

The World Health Organisation urged most countries to intensify efforts and contain the virus before it gets out of hand and turn to a global pandemic.

Several companies and major industries players are still parsing the impact of the virus spread on business during the first quarter.

While in the US, the Donald Trump administration requested for emergency funding from the US Congress to counter the coronavirus economic impact.

Copper March futures slipped 0.1% to trade at $2.58 per pound as of 14:29 GMT, after hitting earlier a high of $2.59 and a low of $2.57.