Mainly negative Asian markets, prey to war anxiety. No concrete development in the ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Kiev remains surrounded by Russian forces, which bombed a shopping center in the Podilskyi district of the capital overnight. For now there is talk of a death toll of six. Moscow’s request for Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Mariupol to lay down their arms was promptly refused by the Ukrainian government. Geopolitical tensions, combined with the IEA alert, inflame oil prices, which fly by more than 3%.
Brent leaps more than 3% to $ 111.44 a barrel and the WTI contract also rises more than 3% to $ 108.31. While retracing from the highs a step away from the $ 140 a barrel threshold, Brent remains up by more than + 40% since the beginning of 2022.
Today, according to what has been announced by the White House, a telephone conversation is expected between the American President Joe Biden, the French President Emmanuel Macron, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the President of the Italian Council Mario Draghi and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for discuss “a coordinated response to Russia’s unjustified and unjustified attack on Ukraine”. The interview is expected at 4 pm Italian time.
The IEA, the International Energy Agency, warned last Friday that, as of April, Russia’s supply of oil and refined products could drop by three million barrels a day.
For this reason, the agency presented a plan containing 10 emergency measures to cut oil demand by 2.7 million barrels per day in four months.
Tokyo Stock Exchange closed today. The Hong Kong stock exchange clears its gains and loses 1%, Shanghai retraces by 0.09%, the Sydney stock exchange closed down 0.22% and Seoul lost 0.77%.