LONDON —
Oil prices fell Tuesday on easing
geopolitical concerns surrounding major crude producers Iran and Russia while
stock markets traded mixed.
اضافة اعلان
French President
Emmanuel Macron said he had convinced
Russia's Vladimir Putin not to escalate the crisis around Ukraine, ahead of
talks in Kyiv aimed at defusing fears Moscow could invade.
At the same time, talks to revive a deal with Iran on its
contested nuclear program were set to resume Tuesday after Washington and
Tehran signaled their willingness to clinch an agreement as soon as possible.
Edward Moya, analyst at trading group
OANDA, said signs of
progress in US-Iran nuclear talks — which could see Tehran sell oil
internationally again — would likely not have much long-term impact on the oil
price rally towards $100 per barrel.
"Energy traders locked in some profits over optimism
that the US and
Iran might be able to salvage a nuclear deal," he said.
"The oil market still remains heavily in deficit and
whatever weakness happens to prices will likely be short-lived."
Surging oil prices —
Brent crude hit the highest level for
more than seven years at $94 per barrel on Monday — saw
BP swing back into a big
profit last year, the British energy giant announced.
The expected turnaround — after huge losses in 2020 as the
pandemic slammed oil prices — saw BP's share price rise only modestly before
turning lower.
The price of aluminum surged to the highest level in 14
years — $3,236 per tonne — on stretched supplies after China placed the city of
Baise — a key producer of the base metal — in COVID lockdown.
Chips race
In Asia,
SoftBank announced that the $40-billion sale of
chip powerhouse Arm to Nvidia had collapsed because of "significant
regulatory challenges" over competition concerns.
The Japanese telecoms firm-turned-investment giant also
reported net profit of $251 million in the third quarter.
In Europe, the EU unveiled a 43-billion-euro plan to
quadruple the supply of semiconductors in the region by 2030, hoping to limit
the bloc's dependence on Asia for a key component used in electric cars and
smartphones.
However shares in leading European chipmakers,
STMicroelectronics and Infineon, both fell.
On Wall Street, share prices were higher as investors await
key US inflation data Thursday tipped to show more painful price rises in
January after a four-decade high in December.
But sentiment was more muted in Europe, where stock markets
in London and Frankfurt were lower by mid-afternoon trading while Paris was
tentatively higher.
Investors are bracing for central banks to raise interest
rates to tame inflation, a move that could weigh down on the global economic
recovery.
But
Michael Hewson of CMC Markets said that "by and
large markets and investors are getting used to the idea of higher rates from
central banks."
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