MILANO – European stock markets close at their lows with high tension on the commodities sector, while investors are watching with bated breath at the evolution of the situation in Ukraine with the expected talks between the delegations of Kiev and Moscow. There Moscow Stock Exchange it is still closed: it is the fourth day in a row. Milano widens the fall in the final phase of the session and at the end marks -2.35%, while Tim sinks after presentation of the plan and accounts. Same dynamic for the others: Paris lost 1.84% to 6,378 points, London 2.55% to 7,240 points, Madrid 3.64% to 8,017 points e Frankfurt 2.09% at 13,707 points. Also Wall Street turns in the red after the positive start: the Dow Jones loses 0.3%, the Nasdaq loses 1.25% instead.
The energy sector remains in the spotlight after the rush of the last few sessions, with strong fluctuations in prices. Brent is close to 120 dollars, WTI reaches peaks above 116: the highest since 2008 for American quality after Opec + decided to continue with its production growth trajectory as if nothing had happened. During the day, then, the prices retrace. Also the gas remains in great tension: in Amsterdam, the reference market for Europe, natural gas sees 200 euros per megawatt hour, levels never reached before. As for oil, it then reverses course until it drops by almost 30 percentage points to 116 euros. Nor does the race in the prices of food raw materials on international markets stop: wheat, corn, soybeans all recorded great increases.
Commodities, strong price tensions. Record gas, petrol goes up again. Grain under pressure too
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The US financial agency Bloomberg tells how MSCI and FTSE Russell are cutting Russian stocks off their indices, which are widely followed by the investment fund industry: Moscow stocks are thus overshadowed by the fund’s radar. For the vast majority of investors, the Russian market is currently not investable and therefore its shares will be removed from emerging market indices on March 9, MSCI said. FTSE will trigger the zero weight cut of Russian components on 7 March. With foreign reserves frozen, seven banks cut off from SWIFT, internal capital controls, big companies breaking bridges, the isolation of the Russian economy proceeding.
Positive closing this morning for the Tokyo Stock Exchange which followed the recovery of US stock indices, with investors focusing on the next moves of Federal Reserve, and the chances of a more modest-than-expected interest rate hike: Powell said it is appropriate to do so, but only by 25 points versus the expected 50. And so the day ended at + 0.7% for the Nikkei. Oppose other Asians: Hong Kong closed up by 0.55%, while Shenzen loses 0.83% e Shanghai slips by 0.09%.
On the government bond front, the spread at 155 basis points with the 10-year rate at 1.604%. L’euro it is down against the dollar at 1.1062 and at 127.88 yen. The ruble reduces the decline against the dollar, with the exchange rate in the 105 area.
Among the macro surveys, which however risk being overtaken by the latest events, theSME services index in the Eurozone in February rose to 55.5, against 51.1 in January. The forecasts indicated growth to 55.8. The final composite index stood at 55.5, against 52.3 in January and 55.8 expected. The easing of pandemic restrictions had also led Italy to grow again, with the tertiary sector indicator from 48.5 to 52.8 points, again above the threshold of 50 that separates contraction and economic expansion.
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