Here are 3 assets investors are buying as the stock market sells off on coronavirus fears

• The stock market is selling off amid coronavirus fears - but these assets are shooting up.
• On Monday, gold traded at levels not seen since April 2013, while the yen appreciated against major currencies.
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Investors are rushing to assets that can promise safety amid the market turmoil set off by coronavirus headlines.

While that means a selloff in stocks, it means a buying spree in assets like gold, the Japanese yen, and US Treasuries.

Gold traded at its highest levels since April 2013, according to Bloomberg data, while the yen appreciated against major currencies including the dollar, euro, and pound.

It was the Australian dollar that lost out the most, with the currency falling 1.26% against the yen.

The yen is widely seen as a safe-haven currency, and typically gains when risk-off sentiment takes hold of the market; Australia, meanwhile, is particularly vulnerable to the economic fallout that could accompany coronavirus. China is the country's No. 1 trading partner.

Elsewhere in safe-haven assets, US 10-year Treasuries rose. Yields tightened to 1.603%, the lowest levels seen since October.

The hit to yields was predictable: Praveen Korapaty, a Goldman Sachs analyst, said in a Friday note that coronavirus could "drag on yields," but added that the dip would be eventually followed by a "sharp bounce back." How long the drag will last is hard to gauge, however, he said.

Coronavirus rocked risk assets Monday as investors searched for answers to what coronavirus' impact will be on Chinese, and global, growth. The S&P 500 index fell 1.48% and Brent crude oil declined 2.50% to trade at $59.17 a barrel.

Some analysts see the risk asset reaction as overblown - in a Monday note, RBC Capital Markets' Tom Porcelli said he was "unconvinced by what is now a heightened level of hyperbole with regards to this risk."