World Markets Mixed After Bloody Rout On Wall Street

World markets were mixed Tuesday, Mar. 8, 2022, with European benchmarks and US futures turning higher after Asian shares extended losses.

Photo Insert: The Citi team ring the Closing Bell of the New York Stock Exchange

Surging prices for oil and other vital commodities have been rattling global markets and investors search for safe havens from expanding sanctions against Russia, Yuri Kageyama reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Oil prices were relatively steady after surging past $130 a barrel the day before. US benchmark crude gained $2.16 to $121.56 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, added $2.43 to $125.64 a barrel.

France’s CAC 40 added 2.2% to 6,112.21 while Germany’s DAX climbed 1.4% to 13,010.32. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to 6,971.04. U.S. futures also advanced, with the contract for the Dow industrials up 0.3$ while the contract for the S&P 500 gained 0.5%.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed 1.7% to finish at 24,790.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 sank 0.8% to 6,980.30. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.1% to 2,622.40. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4% to 20,765.87, while the Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.4% to 3,293.53. India’s Sensex was the rare gainer, adding 1% to 53,345.24.

The price of gold — a measure of nervousness on Wall Street — jumped more than $22 an ounce to $2,018.00. Nickel, crucial for batteries and steel making among other vital manufacturing, jumped 44.3% to $42,995.00 per metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.

The exchange suspended trading after the price of the metal’s three-month contract more than doubled to over $100,000 a ton. The exchange said the evolving situation in Russia and Ukraine had led it to suspend trading at least for Tuesday and possibly longer “on orderly market grounds.”

Russia is a key supplier of nickel. It and Ukraine together also supply 13% of the world’s titanium, which is used to make passenger jets, and 30% of the palladium, which goes into cars, cellphones, and dental fillings.

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