World stock markets fell sharply again this Friday due to fears caused by the war in Ukraine, aggravated by the bombing of the largest atomic power plant in Europe. Paris closed with a 4.97% dropFrankfurt lost 4.41% and Milan 6.24%.
(Read: Dollar in Colombia lost 102 pesos in the week).
Losses were somewhat lower on the London and Madrid markets, with decreases of 3.48% and 3.63% respectively. The New York Stock Exchange opened lower, despite a strong US employment report for February. At 5:10 pm, the Dow Jones index was down 0.83% after noon and the Nasdaq 1.54%. In Asia, Tokyo ended down 2.23%, Hong Kong 2.54% and Shanghai 0.96%.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky accused Moscow of resort to “nuclear terror” after the fire caused by a Russian attack on the Zapariyia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which caused a fire but without an increase in radiation levels. There is “no desire” to take risks in financial markets, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote bank.
Investors are mostly about protect yourself from loss, he assures. The safest investments, used as refuge values by operators in times of uncertainty, remained at high levels: an ounce of gold was worth 1,953 dollars (+0.88%).
RAW MATERIALS ON THE RISE
Oil prices rose again but remained below their high the day before. The WTI barrel for delivery in April it was selling for $113.36 around 3:20 p.m. GMT, up 5.24%. London North Sea Brent rose 4.72% to $115.67 by the same time, after hovering around $120 on Thursday. The war in Ukraine sent the price of natural gas skyrocketing to a new all-time high. Fears of disruptions to exports from Russia, which supplies 40% of gas imports on the continent, caused the European market benchmark, the Dutch TTF, to hit a new record of 213.895 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh). ).
(What’s more: What drives multinationals to leave Russia).
Nickel, a mineral that Russia produces in large quantities, exceeded $30,000 a tonne, a price it had not reached since 2008. In another sign of weakness in Europe, the euro fell below the symbolic threshold of $1.10, a level not seen since the first months of the covid-19 pandemic. The depreciation was 1.44%, to 1.0908 dollars per euro.
Bitcoin gave up a small part of its gains of the week (-3.39%), at 40,680 dollars. On the other hand, shares of Telecom Italia plunged again on the Milan Stock Exchange, down more than 15%, due to concerns about poor results in 2021 and the gloomy outlook for 2022. In Frankfurt, Uniper, which participated in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, fell by 11.39%. Banks, including Deutsche Bank (-7.12%) and the automobile sector, such as Volkswagen (-5.96%), were also affected.
AFP
