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Prices at the pump have fallen in many countries. In the US, it’s as low as $1.77 a gallon.
Asian stocks climbed early Tuesday following somewhat of a rally in US markets which appeared to indicate that global investors have shrugged off the lack of agreement over oil output freezes in Doha.
At first oil prices fell by about 5 per cent on Sunday following the disappointing news that OPEC and non-OPEC producers had failed to reach an agreement to freeze output.
However, by Monday afternoon news from Kuwait that its oil sector was in its third day of a full strike boosted global oil prices.
The strike has diminished Kuwait’s daily output to a third of its usual production levels. That effectively removes two million barrels from the global supply.
At press time International Benchmark Brent crude was trading up at $43.58 while the American Benchmark West Texas intermediate was trading up at $40.44 a barrel.
The buoyant oil prices – and the slight weakening of the yen – helped pull up Japan’s Nikkei which had suffered on Monday following the deadly earthquakes in Kyushu.
At press time on Tuesday, it had gained 3.7 per cent to 16,874 – more than recouping Monday’s losses.
In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 1.30 per cent to 21, 436, while the benchmark Shanghai Composite was up 0.3 per cent to 3,042.
The positive figures come on the heels of strong performance on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Nasdaq closed up 0.6 per cent on Monday while the S&P 500 gained 0.65 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.6 per cent and broke the 18,000 mark for the first time since the summer.
The BRICS Post with input from Agencies
