European markets opened in the green, after losing around 4% the day before.

Paris rebounding by 0.91%, London by 1.47, Frankfurt by 0.62% and Milan by 0.30% around 08:35 GMT.

After losing more than 30% on Thursday, the Russian stock market rose 20%.

Wall Street had launched the trend on Thursday: despite a sharply lower opening, the three main indices ended positive, the Dow Jones taking 0.25% and the Nasdaq more than 3%.

Asia followed: Tokyo recovered 1.95% on Friday, but its balance sheet for the week remains negative (-2.4%).

Shanghai gained 0.63% but Hong Kong lost 0.59%.

Russia made significant progress into Ukrainian territory within 24 hours of the start of the invasion, and fighting was now underway in Kyiv.

Among the reasons for the rebound in the indices, a "bargain hunt" as well as the speech "considered + moderate +" from US President Joe Biden are cited by John Plassard, investment specialist at Mirabaud.

The Western sanctions mainly target the Russian financial and technology sector, but exclude hydrocarbons or restricted access to the Swift interbank network.

However, "this is high volatility resulting from a high-tension environment" describes Ipek Ozkardeskaya, an analyst at Swissquote Bank.

"It is impossible to say which direction the market will take in the next five minutes. The only certainty is uncertainty."

Raw materials at a high level

Commodities, which ignited on Thursday, remained at a high level: the barrel of Brent from the North Sea was still evolving above 100 dollars, the American WTI, which had also exceeded this symbolic cap, was around 95 dollars .

Aluminum and wheat also evolved at high levels, remaining however far from their peak the day before.

Oil wells in Baku, March 19, 2019 Mladen ANTONOV AFP / Archives

Gas on the main European market, the Dutch TTF, was trading around 113 euros, after peaking at 143 euros on Thursday around 2:40 p.m. GMT, but remained up more than 40% over three days.

Gold was also up from Thursday's close at $1,917 an ounce.

Russia and Ukraine are essential countries for the supply of oil, gas, wheat and other crucial raw materials.

“Energy prices will continue to keep central banks awake as they can do nothing to directly address the supply issues” that are fueling inflation in Western economies, Deutsche Bank analysts said.

The fight against rising prices has been considered a priority for several weeks by central banks.

Mining on the rebound

Leaded on Thursday, mining resumed colors: Evraz took 38%, Polymetal 6.71% in London, while ArcelorMittal took 3.59% in Paris.

Russian banking stocks, rolled Thursday, rebounded timidly, like Sberbank (+3.62%).

But the European sector remained fragile, Societe Generale, present in Russia, still losing 0.97% in Paris, after a fall of more than 10% on Thursday.

The euro continued to weaken against the dollar, perceived as a safe haven, a dollar now worth 1.1182 euros.

The ruble was still well above $80, at $83.4423.

Bitcoin stable at $38,390.

© 2022 AFP