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The World Health Organisation reported 10,982 new confirmed cases yesterday, taking the global total to 153,517 and the death toll was at 5,735.
The US Federal Reserve yesterday cut "the target range for the federal funds rate to 0 to 1/4 per cent".
It follows US president Donald Trump declaring a national emergency on Friday and countries including New Zealand and Australia introducing measures to limit the spread of the strain of coronavirus.
Markets had closed up on Friday and investors will be watching for data out of China today.
"Data on China's industrial output, investment and retail sales due Monday are forecast to show an across-the-board contraction for the first time on record, evidence of the extent to which the coronavirus has ravaged the economy," Bloomberg said.
Gold was up on the spot market and was trading about US$1,552 an ounce, having been around $1,700/oz earlier this month.
Diversified mining majors had lifted on Friday, with Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) closing up 10.3% in London and Freeport-McMoRan closing up 5% in New York, where gold major Newmont (NYSE: NEM) had shed 11.1%.
BHP (ASX: BHP) was off 0.9% in morning trade.
