Asian stocks fall as oil climbs back above $100
A currency trader looks at monitors in front of screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the exchange rate between the US dollar and the South Korean won, right, in the foreign exchange trading room of KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday March 17, 2022. Asian stock prices surged for the second day after the Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate hike since 2008 and the China has promised to support its real estate and internet industries. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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BANGKOK
Stocks were mostly weaker in Asia on Friday after Wall Street extended a rally into a third day and oil prices rose above $105 a barrel.
Tokyo and Sydney advanced while Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul declined.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for more help for his country after days of shelling of civilian sites in several cities in recent days.
The war and plans for President Joe Biden to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping later on Friday were among the uncertainties hanging over markets.
The White House said the conversation will focus on “the management of competition between our two countries as well as Russia’s war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern.”
At the end of a two-day meeting, the Bank of Japan chose to keep its monetary policy unchanged, with its benchmark interest rate at minus 0.1%. Japan’s central bank has been keeping interest rates rock-bottom and pumping tens of billions of dollars into the world’s third-largest economy for years, trying to spur faster growth.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% to 26,667.23 and Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3% to 7,275.30.
But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.6% to 20,952.53 after soaring for two days after Chinese leaders pledged more support for the economy and markets, suggesting that Beijing could temper its crackdown on tech and real estate companies.
The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.3% to 3,205.90.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2% on Thursday, closing at 4,411.67, after jumping more than 2% on each of the previous two days for its best consecutive performance in nearly two years.
Big swings in markets have become the norm as investors struggle to handicap what will happen to the economy and global inflation already high due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interest rates higher interest from central banks around the world and renewed concerns about COVID-19 in various hotspots.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2% to 34,480.76. The Nasdaq rose 1.3% to 13,614.78. The tech-heavy index is on track for its biggest weekly gain in more than a year.
Stocks of small companies outperformed the broader market. The Russell 2000 Index jumped 1.7% to 2,065.02.
The latest market gains come after the Federal Reserve raised its key rate on Wednesday for the first time since 2018, something Wall Street had been waiting for months.
A barrel of US crude oil gained $2.58 to $105.56 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 8.4% on Thursday to settle at $102.98.
Brent crude, the international standard, added $2.42 to $109.06 a barrel in London. It jumped 8.8% to settle at $106.64 a barrel.
Prices fell on doubts about oil supply and demand. After briefly surging above $130 early last week, a barrel of U.S. crude fell to nearly $94 a barrel on Wednesday.
But reports of a sale of Russian crude oil to India and apparent setbacks in peace talks between Ukraine and Russia have rekindled concerns about possible supply shortages.
Asked about reports that India is buying oil from Russia at a cut price, Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi did not directly confirm or deny it.
“India imports most of its oil needs,” Bagchi said. “We are exploring all possibilities in the global energy market. I don’t think Russia has been a major supplier of oil to India.”
He also noted that European countries import oil from Russia.
Snatches of news about the state of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have caused many sharp reversals. Similarly, there have been recent concerns about economic shutdowns in China due to the surge in COVID-19 infections, which could affect energy demand.
On Thursday, the Chinese government said businesses in Shenzhen, a major business hub, will be allowed to reopen as efforts to contain coronavirus outbreaks progress. Their earlier shutdowns had rattled financial markets.
A flurry of better-than-expected US economic reports on Thursday may also have helped markets. Fewer workers filed for unemployment last week and builders broke more homes last month than economists expected.
In other exchanges, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.17% from 2.20% on Thursday evening.
The dollar fell from 118.60 yen to 118.78 Japanese yen. The euro fell to $1.1082 from $1.1092.
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Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed.
