Russia and Ukraine foreign ministers will meet in Turkey this week
Wall Street stocks fell on Tuesday in a nervous session, with investors further monitoring the headlines related to Russia-Ukraine conflict. The selling pressure in the equity markets intensified after the US announced a ban on Russian oil, triggering another rally on oil prices. Expensive energy products add to the uncertain economic toll from the war, this pressuring stocks and other risky assets. Also, nickel prices roughly doubled to all-time highs amid concerns of supply disruptions for the metal. As such, the Dow Jones fell 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.3%, and the S&P 500 lost 0.7%.
Asian equities, rebounded on Wednesday, taking a breather from the recent sell-off. However, most of the major indexes finished lower, with the Shanghai Composite Index losing 1.13% after the official report showed that China’s CPI rose 0.6% in February from the previous month. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong slid 0.67%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.3% and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 bucked the trend and gained more than 1%. South Korean markets were closed for a presidential election.
In Europe, stocks opened with solid gains as investor sentiment has improved despite the Russian foreign ministry said the response to Western sanctions will be sensitive and precise. In part, the sell-off in stock markets has slowed due to reports that Russia and Ukraine foreign ministers plan to meet in Turkey this week. Accodring to sources, Lavrov will travel to Turkey on Wednesday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 jumped 2.1% in early trade, with banks leading the gains.
As risk sentiment has improved since yesterday, demand for the safe-haven dollar keeps easing. The USD index has already retreated from fresh long-term highs seen at the start of the week to settle below the 99.00 figure during the European trading hours on Wednesday. Still, the greenback stays within a strong bullish trend that will persist as long as geopolitical tensions surrounding Ukraine keep rising and spreading globally.
