Asian shares fall, oil gains

Asian shares were mostly lower Monday in Asia while crude prices gained more than $1 per barrel after OPEC and other oil producing nations agreed to cut output to reflect the collapse of demand due to the pandemic.

Asian Shares

Markets in Hong Kong, Sydney and some other regional markets were closed for Easter holidays.

  • Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8% to 19,349.74.
  • The Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.4% to 2,785.47.
  • The Kospi in South Korea shed 0.7% to 1,847.83.
  • Shares fell in Singapore and Taiwan but rose in Indonesia.

Currencies

  • The dollar fell to 108.10 Japanese yen from 108.21 yen on Friday.
  • The euro inched down to $1.0932 from $1.0940.

Oil Prices

  • U.S. benchmark crude jumped $1.30 to $24.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
  • It had fallen $2.33, or 9.3%, to $22.76 per barrel on Thursday, before the Good Friday holiday.
  • Brent, the international standard for pricing, added $1.41 to $32.89 per barrel.

Related Posts