Market players cheered a solid decline in oil prices witnessed on Monday
Wall Street stocks rallied for the third consecutive day on Monday, with tech shares leading gains. The Dow was up 0.27%, the S&P 500 added 0.71%, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.31%. In individual stocks, shares of Tesla rallied over 8% after the company asked its shareholders for permission to split its stock for the second time in two years. This split would come in the form of a dividend, which would pay shareholders additional shares, the giant explained. Meanwhile, Apple (+0.50%) extended its rally to a tenth session, the longest run in twelve years.
Today in Asia, equities extended gains as the prospect of more talks between Russia and Ukraine helped investor sentiment. Also, market players cheered a solid decline in oil prices witnessed on Monday. Brent crude lost 7% amid concerns that China’s Covid restrictions will pressure energy demand. As such, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.64% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.10% after the Bank of Japan offered to buy unlimited government bonds for the first four days of this week.
European equities opened higher on Tuesday ahead of another round of Ukraine-Russia talks. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.8% in early deals. On the data front, German import prices rose 1.3% in February versus 1.8% expected while the previous print came in at 4,3%. Germany’s GfK consumer confidence arrived at -15.5 in April versus -14.0 expected and -8.1 prior. Anyway, investors shrugged off the disappointing figures as markets are now focused negotiations in Turkey.
Meanwhile, the dollar came off recent peaks to settle just below the 99.00 figure on Tuesday. Yesterday, the USD index encountered a barrier around May 2020 highs seen earlier this month and has been struggling to resume the ascent since a solid rejection from the peaks in the 99.40 area. However, the greenback could regain the upside momentum if Russia-Ukraine talks disappoint and trigger risk aversion across the markets later today. Otherwise, the buck would extend the bearish correction in the near term.
