Global stocks mixed as talks with Ukraine appear to be progressing
A currency trader looks at computer monitors near screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and exchange rates at a foreign exchange trading floor in Seoul, South Korea South on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Asian stock markets followed the Rue wall higher on Wednesday as talks on ending Russia’s war with Ukraine appeared to be making progress. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
PA
BEIJING
European markets opened lower as Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as investors saw signs of possible progress in talks on ending Russia’s war with Ukraine.
London and Frankfurt declined. Shanghai and Hong Kong gained while Tokyo fell. Oil rose more than $2 a barrel.
Wall Street futures were down after U.S. stocks gained on Wednesday after Russia announced it would scale back military operations near Ukraine’s capital kyiv and a northern city.
“It was a good additional catalyst” for a market rally already underway, Clifford Bennett of ACY Securities said in a report.
In early trading, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 7,529.06 and Frankfurt’s DAX fell 1.3% to 14,631.35. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 1% to 6,720.90.
On Wall Street, futures on the benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4%.
On Tuesday, the benchmark S&P 500 rose 1.2% and the Dow Jones rose 1%. The Nasdaq composite added 1.8%.
More than 85% of S&P 500 stocks rose. Tech and communications stocks helped fuel the rally, along with major retail chains, automakers and other companies that rely on consumer spending. Apple rose 1.9% and Netflix added 3.5%. Ford Motor climbed 6.5% and General Motors 4.6%.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Feb. 24 attack on Ukraine rocked global markets that were already jittery about rising US interest rates and a slowing Chinese economy.
During the peace talks in Turkey, the Ukrainian delegation set out a framework in which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by a range of other nations.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Moscow would “reduce military activities” near kyiv and Chernihiv, but gave no details. President Joe Biden has said he is not convinced it will lead to fundamental change in the war.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 2% to 3,266.60, rebounding from the previous day’s loss after Shanghai, China’s most populous city, closed most businesses to fight coronavirus outbreaks.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.8% to 28,027.25 after the government announced February retail sales fell 0.8% more than expected. That left retail spending down 2% from its peak in November.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.4% to 22,232.03 and the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.2% to 2,746.74. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,514.50.
The Indian Sensex rose 1% to 58,529.58. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets also grew.
Benchmark U.S. crude jumped $2.21 to $106.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price base for international oils, gained $2.01 to $109.72 a barrel in London.
The dollar fell to 121.58 yen from 122.91 yen on Tuesday. The euro fell from $1.1089 to $1.1153.
