The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price has fallen heavily along with the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX: XJO) on Thursday.
At one stage today the telco giant's shares were down as much as 8.5% to a 52-week low of $3.11.
Why did Telstra's shares sink lower today?
Today's decline was triggered by an announcement by the United States government this afternoon which revealed that it has suspended all travel from Europe, excluding the United Kingdom, for the next 30 days.
The United States has made these new travel restrictions in an effort to fight the spread of the coronavirus. This follows a spike in cases in the United States. According to the BBC, there are now 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus, with 38 deaths.
The worst impacted shares on the market were of course travel shares. Both Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) shares have crashed to multi-year lows on the news.
But investors didn't stop there and indiscriminately sold off shares of all shapes, sizes, and sectors. In fact, at the close of play there was not a single sector that was in positive territory.
Is this a buying opportunity?
I think this panic selling has created a number of outstanding opportunities for investors and Telstra is one of them. Especially as I don't expect the telco company to be meaningfully impacted by the coronavirus.
However, with the volatility we are experiencing at the moment, it may be prudent to hold fire until global markets are calmer.
But when that comes, Telstra would be high up on my list for income investors. Based on today's close price and its current 16 cents per share fully franked dividend, its shares currently offer a dividend yield of 5.1%.
