LONDON — US and European
stocks as well as oil prices
rebounded on Monday from a pre-weekend slump that was sparked by fears over a
new variant of
COVID-19.
اضافة اعلان
Frankfurt, London and Paris equities all advanced, having
tumbled on Friday by around four percent on worries of a major hit to the
global economy. However, they gave up much of their gains as the day wore
on.
On Wall Street, all three major indices moved higher, having
lost more than two percent on Friday.
"The panic has passed for now,"
OANDA analyst
Craig Erlam told AFP.
"There were no overly concerning developments over the
weekend and so investors are testing the water again — but sentiment will
remain fragile."
Oil also rallied, with WTI, the US benchmark crude contract,
gaining more than six percent at one point, as investors reassessed Omicron's
threat to energy demand.
WTI and international benchmark
Brent shed more than 10
percent in value on Friday in their worst day since the US contract briefly
fell into negative territory at the outset of the pandemic.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said investors'
"positive disposition is predicated partly on an embrace of the
buy-the-dip trade and partly on the burgeoning hope that Omicron can be
corralled with current vaccines, current treatments, and/or new vaccine
formulations that can be ready relatively soon".
Asian bourses, however, fell further on lingering
uncertainty over the new virus strain.
The
new Covid variant Omicron is highly transmissible and
requires "urgent action," G7 health ministers said on Monday.
'Anxiety attack'
"The anxiety attack on financial markets shows signs of
alleviating, as investors pause for breath and spot signs of optimism while
scientists race to establish the severity of the new variant," said
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.
Equities around the world went into freefall on Friday on
news of the heavily mutated variant, which some fear could evade vaccines, as
it forced several governments to throw up flight bans from southern Africa
where it was discovered and introduce fresh containment measures.
Investor nerves were soothed somewhat after a South African
doctor, who raised the alarm over Omicron, said over the weekend that dozens of
her patients suspected of having the new variant had only shown mild symptoms
and recovered fully without hospitalization.
"There are reports from doctors in
South Africa that
Omicron infections don't seem more severe and the World Health Organization’s
appeal for caution also appears to have calmed some nerves," added
Streeter.
'Very high' risk
However, the
WHO also warned on Monday that Omicron poses a
"very high" risk globally, despite uncertainties about the danger and
contagion levels of the new strain.
The Covid variant has compounded an already jittery mood on
trading floors caused by surging inflation and central banks starting to roll
back their ultra-loose monetary policies to prevent prices from running out of
control.
Shares in Twitter popped 10 percent higher on
speculation that Twitter CEO
Jack Dorsey was stepping down, prompting trading
to be halted temporarily. The shares remained in positive territory after the
news was confirmed although they gave up much of their gains as the morning
wore on.
"He has previously been accused of being a part-time
CEO, he also runs Square, which helps explain today’s share price
reaction," analyst Michael Hewson at
CMC Markets said of Dorsey.
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