A screen shows stock market prices on March 7, 2022 on a street in Hong Kong (AFP/Peter PARKS)
Oil prices continued to soar Monday in Asia, as did the price of gold which exceeded $ 2,000 an ounce, while stock markets in the region tumbled in the face of the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the world economy .
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea came close to 140 dollars on Sunday around 11:00 p.m. GMT, close to its absolute record of 147.50 dollars reached in July 2008.
The prices of black gold then fell, while continuing to progress at a frantic pace: after 02:45 GMT the barrel of American WTI jumped 7.75% to 124.64 dollars and that of the barrel of Brent from the North soared 8.79% to 128.49 dollars.
In the face of the worsening war in Ukraine, direct sanctions against Moscow’s hydrocarbon exports are no longer a taboo concept.
US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the United States and the European Union were “very actively” discussing the possibility of banning imports of Russian oil.
Europeans are more cautious, however, as some states in the region such as Germany are highly dependent on Russian oil and gas.
But even if Moscow’s black gold is not directly sanctioned for the moment in theory, it already finds almost no takers, which is already greatly disrupting the world supply.
“Barring an end to hostilities, there is little on the horizon to slow” the rise in oil prices, according to a National Australia Bank note released Monday.
– The euro falls –
A third round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia is scheduled for Monday, but the markets were hardly expecting a favorable outcome after the failure of previous talks and the violence of the Russian offensive going crescendo.
A passerby walks in front of a screen displaying stock market index prices on March 7, 2022 in Tokyo (AFP / Kazuhiro NOGI)
An escalation of the conflict in Ukraine would have “devastating” economic consequences worldwide, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Saturday.
Besides the conflict itself, the sanctions imposed on Russia “will also have a substantial impact on the world economy and financial markets, with collateral effects for other countries”, according to the IMF.
Investors rushed to gold, the ultimate safe haven, which exceeded $ 2,000 an ounce in Asian trading on Monday morning, a first since September 2020.
Conversely, the equity markets drank the cup: on the Tokyo Stock Exchange the flagship Nikkei index fell by 3.15% at the mid-session break. At 25,166.23 points, it had not fallen so low since the end of 2020.
All sectors of activity on the Nikkei were flat, with the unsurprising exception of energy.
Losses on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange were even worse, with its Hang Seng index dropping around 3.5% around 0220 GMT. In mainland China, Shanghai and Shenzhen lost more than 1%.
On the currency market, the euro fell sharply against the dollar, falling to 1.0840 dollars around 02:50 GMT against 1.0928 dollars on Friday.
The European currency also fell against the yen, at the rate of one euro for 124.54 yen against 125.48 yen on Friday at 9:00 p.m. GMT.
The dollar was almost stable against the yen, at the rate of one dollar for 114.86 yen against 114.82 yen at the end of last week.
© 2022 AFP
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