(Update 1: updates with end of the trading session)

New York, Mar 9 (EFE).- The New York Stock Exchange's main blue-chip index, the Dow 30, fell 7.79 percent Monday amid a bloodbath in global financial markets spurred by the spread of the coronavirus and the largest oil-price decline in a generation.

Panic reigned at the start of the session and the S&P 500, an index regarded as the most representative indicator for large-cap US stocks, plunged 7 percent within four minutes of the opening bell.

The decline was steep enough to trigger the NYSE's Level 1 circuit-breaker, which halted trading for 15 minutes, the first such episode during regular hours since the depths of the world financial crisis in December 2008.

By the end of the trading day, the S&P was down 225.81 points, or 7.60 percent, while the Dow 30 suffered its largest percentage drop since 2008 and its biggest-ever points loss, plummeting 2,013.76 points to 23,851.02.

The hardest-hit stocks on the Dow 30 were chemical giant Dow Inc. (21.66 percent), Chevron (15.37 percent), Caterpillar (14.28 percent), JPMorgan (13.69 percent), Boeing (13.40 percent) and ExxonMobil (12.22 percent).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index gave up 624.94 points, or 7.29 percent, to finish the session at 7,950.68 points.

While concerns over efforts to contain the novel coronavirus were partly to blame for the market plunge, investors' fears were exacerbated by an oil-price free-fall caused by Saudi Arabia's decision over the weekend to slash crude prices as part of a market-share war with Russia.

That move came after Russia, a non-OPEC member, ended a three-year pact with the cartel by refusing Friday to join it in making a significant production cut amid the coronavirus-triggered drop in demand.

On Monday, the price of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, dropped 26.55 percent to $33.42 per barrel. The US reference crude, West Texas Intermediate, had its worst day since the 1991 Gulf War, tumbling 25 percent to $31.13 per barrel.

Investors fled to safety amid the market plunge, with the safe-haven 10-year US Treasury note's yield, which moves inversely to price, plunging to a new all-time low of 0.318 percent before recovering somewhat to end the session at 0.569 percent.

The Federal Reserve of New York announced Monday that it will increase the amount of short-term loans it provides to banks in an effort to shield them from the current market volatility.

"Beginning with today's operation and through March 12, 2020, the Desk will increase the amount offered in daily overnight repo operations from at least $100 billion to at least $150 billion," the New York Fed said. EFE

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