China's exports contracted sharply in the first two months of the year, as the fast spreading coronavirus outbreak caused massive disruptions to business operations, global supply chains and economic activity.

Imports also fell but were better than analyst expectations.

Twenty-one people aboard a mammoth cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the new coronavirus and 19 of them are crew members, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday, amid evidence the vessel was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of more than 10 cases during its previous voyage.

He said federal officials were working with California authorities around-the-clock to bring the Grand Princess, with more than 3,500 on board, to a non-commercial port over the weekend and test everyone for the virus.

The gold to silver ratio, which indicates the relative strengths of both the metals, is testing three-decade high. At present, the gold to silver ratio is 96.5, not seen since 1991. The ratio rises when silver underperforms gold. Historical data shows that whenever this ratio rises to very high levels, it never sustains and falls.

This ratio suggests how many ounces of silver can be bought with one ounce of gold. In India too, like their global peers, traders use the ratio. When they expect the ratio to rise, they buy gold and sell silver.

A day after the Reserve Bank of India imposed a moratorium on Yes Bank and superseded its Board of Directors, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday raided the Mumbai residence of its founder Rana Kapoor.

The raids were conducted in connection with a money-laundering probe against him, officials said.

Japan has asked India to reconsider the visas that have been suspended over coronavirus fears. A travel advisory issued by India earlier announced that all visas, including visas on arrival granted to nationals of Italy, Iran, South Korea, Japan before 3rd march 2020, stand suspended in the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak.

An official said while referring to the issue, ...explained how the numbers of patients are changing and sought appropriate measures in light of the reality on the ground.

Under attack over Yes Bank crisis, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday hit back Congress leader P Chidambaram, saying that exposure of the private lender to some of the very stressed corporates started before 2014 when the UPA was in power.

The exposure of Yes Bank to some of the very stressed corporates has been before 2014. These are public domain names and I am not violating any customer privacy - Anil Ambani (Group), Essel Group, DHFL, IL&FS (and) Vodafone are some of the very stressed corporate to whom Yes Bank has been exposed, she said in response to attacks by the Congress after Yes Bank was placed under one-month moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has barred two Malayalam TV channels for their 'coverage of the Delhi riots' that has claimed 53 lives. Asianet News and MediaOne were taken off air at 7.30 pm on Friday and will remain so till 7.30 pm on March 8, reports said.

The action against the two channels has been taken under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994.

The finance ministry has asked Infosys to deliver on making the goods and services tax network (GSTN) portal efficient for tax payers, sources said.

The ministry told Infosys it was the company’s responsibility to deliver satisfactory performance of the portal and it should meet expectations of the tax payers, the sources said.

The government invited bids on Saturday for the sale of its entire 52.98 per cent stake in the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

Expressions of interest for the strategic sale of BPCL were invited by May 2, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said in the bid document.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India cut production by 5.38 per cent in February at 1,40,933 units, according to a regulatory filing by the company. Maruti Suzuki India had produced a total of 1,48,959 units in the same month last year.

Total passenger vehicle production stood at 1,40,370 units last month as against 1,47,550 units in February 2019, a decline of 4.87 per cent, it added.

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