European shares were little changed on Tuesday, as the rise in oil prices due to the possibility of more sanctions on crude-exporting Russia lifted energy shares, which helped offset the impact of losses in banks and industrial companies.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1 percent by 0710 GMT, following two days of gains.
French Minister of State for European Affairs Clement Bonn said the European Union is likely to adopt a new package of sanctions once morest Russia, while the United States is also planning to impose new sanctions this week on Moscow following reports of civilian killings in Ukraine.
The oil and gas sector in Europe rose 0.7 percent.
Asian stocks
The Japanese Nikkei index closed higher, Tuesday, following a volatile session, tracking gains on Wall Street last night, but investors’ caution regarding expectations of corporate results limited the gains.
The Nikkei rose 0.19 percent to close at 27,787.98 points, following falling as much as 0.26 percent earlier in the session.
Shares of oil drilling companies led the gains among 33 sub-indices of sectors on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, up 1.84 percent, as oil prices rose.
The broader Topix index fell 0.23 percent to close at 1949.12 points.
Wall Street
Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Monday, boosted by big tech stocks and Twitter’s rally following Elon Musk revealed his stake in the company, amid signs of caution in the bond market and talk of more sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.
Low-risk sectors such as utilities and healthcare declined, as did the financial sector.
Twitter shares rose 27.1% following Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he had acquired a 9.2% stake in the micro-blogging site company, making him its largest shareholder. Shares of other social media companies also rose.
Tesla shares rose 5.6% on Monday, following the company announced, on Saturday, record deliveries of electric cars in the first quarter.
Besides Tesla, gains by Apple, Amazon and Microsoft boosted the S&P 500 index.
On Monday, the Standard & Poor’s index rose 36.78 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 4582.64 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 271.05 points, or 1.9 percent, to 14532.55 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 103.61 points, or 0.3 percent, to 34,921.88.
(Archyde.com)
