London (AFP) – Oil prices surged Thursday after US President Donald Trump ramped up geopolitical tensions with threats of a military strike on Iran, while safe-haven gold soared to a fresh record near $5,600. “With the Middle East tinder box looking set to ignite again, oil prices have moved sharply higher, lifting shares in listed energy giants,” said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club.
Stock markets mostly rose in Asia and Europe as investors also pored over company earnings and the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy update. London’s FTSE index hit a record in afternoon trading, driven by surging mining shares. Frankfurt slid almost one percent, however, dragged down by German software giant SAP. Its share price tumbled nearly 15 percent after the company warned it would see a slowdown in new cloud computing contracts, a key metric for analysts, this year after missing targets last year.
Gold eased after hitting a new record at $5,595.47 an ounce as investors rushed to assets deemed safe, including silver, which reached its own record of $120.44 an ounce. Demand for the precious metals is also being spurred by worries about the weakening dollar, sparked by speculation that Trump is happy to see the world’s reserve currency weaken despite the potential risk of pushing up US inflation. An uneventful policy announcement by the Fed on Wednesday did little to inspire buying, though observers said traders were optimistic that US interest rates will come down as Trump prepares to name his pick as the next governor of the central bank.
Trump has meanwhile warned that Tehran must negotiate a deal over its nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making an atomic bomb. “The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” he added, referring to US strikes against Iranian targets in June. International benchmark Brent crude oil topped $70 a barrel Thursday for the first time since September with a gain of five percent.
On stock markets, Meta rocketed by 10 percent at the opening after the US parent of Facebook and Instagram published quarterly earnings that topped expectations, as revenue grew along with huge investments in artificial intelligence. Microsoft, whose earnings disappointed analysts, tumbled 10 percent on concern for the return on investment for the software giant’s spending on AI. South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics posted record quarterly profits Thursday, riding massive market demand for the memory chips that power AI.
– Key figures at around 1445 GMT –
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 4.3 percent at $70.27 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 4.71 percent at $66.19 per barrel
New York – Dow: UP 0.28 percent at 49,152.75
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.29 percent at 6,957.50
New York – NASDAQ Composite: DOWN 0.91 percent at 23,639.46
London – FTSE 100: UP 1.1 percent at 10,268.73 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 8,123.61
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1 percent at 24,578.16
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: FLAT at 53,375.60 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 27,968.09 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 4,157.98 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1965 from $1.1944 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3830 from $1.3797
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 153.20 yen from 153.38 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.52 pence from 86.56 pence
© 2024 AFP
