Shares Gain as Oil Slips on Hopes for Ukraine Progress

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Shares Gain as Oil Slips on Hopes for Ukraine Progress

March 14: Most share markets firmed on Monday while oil slid on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, Reuters reported. The news agency further said that bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and the UK this week.

While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.

Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.5 percent, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.4 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.5 percent and FTSE futures 0.2 percent.

Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.6 percent by losses in China.

Chinese blue chips shed 1.7 percent after a jump in coronavirus cases saw the southern city of Shenzen locked down and stoked speculation about more policy easing.

Bonds elsewhere remained under pressure having taken a beating last week as surging commodity prices looked set to boost inflation further, with yields on 10-year Treasuries rising four basis points to 2.04 percent, Reuters further reported .

The euro was stuck at $1.0905 , and not far from its recent 22-month trough of $1.0804, while the dollar hit a fresh five-year peak on the yen at 117.87 .

Gold lost some of its safe-haven charm on Monday, easing 0.5 percent to $1,975 an ounce and away for last week's peak at $2,069.

Likewise, the chance of progress on Ukraine saw oil prices surrender a little of their recent gains, even as talks with producer Iran seemed to be stalled, Reuters further reported.

Brent was last quoted $2.13 lower at $110.54, while US crude fell $2.46 to $106.84.

 

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