Kenneth Afor
European markets opened on green and Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday as investors keenly wait for the U.S. Federal Reserve stand for a likely interest rate cut after global oil prices went downward following the weekend attack on Saudi’s oil refinery.
The London benchmark as well as Frankfurt and Shanghai advanced while Tokyo and Hong Kong were on a low.
After the assurance from the Saudi oil minister that half of the refinery had been restored, which led to a 5 percent cut of the total global production, the market was stabilized.
“Concerns surrounding elevated oil prices have eased,” Mizuho Bank said in a report.
In the wake of Wednesday’s trading, London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1% to 7,350.54 and Frankfurt’s DAX added 0.2% to 12,388.27. France’s CAC 40 was 0.1% higher at 5,624.83.
Elsewhere, Wall Street, futures for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 0.1%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.2% to 2,985.66 while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.2% to 21,960.71. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng relegated 0.1% to 26,754.12.
Seoul’s Kospi gained 0.2% to 2,070.73 while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 6,681.60. India’s Sensex advanced 0.3% to 36,592.16.
Taiwan advanced while New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets retreated.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Dow added 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.4%.
In other stocks, Energy fell nearly half of Tuesday’s huge gains. Rising prices for technology stocks and companies that sell to consumers made up for those losses.
Prices for energy; benchmark U.S. crude lost 56 cents to $58.78 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $3.56 on Tuesday to close at $59.34. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 56 cents to $63.99 per barrel in London. It sank $4.47 the previous session to $64.55.
However, uncertainty looms as investor worries about the U. S. -Chinese tariff war was temporarily overshadowed by the weekend attack on oil producer Saudi Aramco’s facility in Abqaiq which Yemeni rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, but the U.S. government still maintained that the Iranian government was responsible.
Also, Wednesday, Japan reported exports fell for a ninth month in August, declining 8.2% in August from a year earlier.
“Exports are likely to remain weak over the coming year,” Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a report.
