Fear of a possible recession as a result of the war in Ukraine continued to weigh on Asian stock markets: Tokyo lost 1.71%, Hong Kong fell 1.4% and Shanghai 2.35%.

After a new opening in sharp decline, the European places operated a reversal of trend: Paris rebounded by 1.79%, Frankfurt by 1.36%, returning above 13,000 points, Milan by 3.19%.

London oscillated for its part around the balance 09:00 GMT.

On Monday, the stock market indices were again adorned with red for fear of an embargo on Russian crude imports which would increase oil prices even more.

But the White House said President Joe Biden had "not made a decision at this stage" on the matter.

Asian stock markets rebound AFP

"The threat of tougher sanctions on Russian energy imports will likely add upward pressure on prices in the coming weeks," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been going on for thirteen days, is pushing energy and commodity prices to record highs, forcing market participants to reassess their outlook for the post-Covid economic recovery. , with some warning of a period of runaway inflation and slowing growth.

Many resources were already stretched due to the demand generated by the post-Covid recovery.

Oil continues to rise

The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, which had come close to 140 dollars at the start of the Asian session on Monday, continued to rise on Tuesday morning, above 125 dollars.

As for the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in April, it was trading above 120 dollars.

Oil prices Patricio ARANA AFP

The situation is the same with metals.

On Monday, the price of the European gas contract but also that of wheat and metals reached record levels.

The price of nickel continued its mad dash Tuesday morning, even climbing briefly above 100,000 dollars a ton in the session, investors fearing that Russia could no longer export its production.

And faced with this surge, the London market was forced to suspend the price of nickel in the middle of the morning.

Diplomacy will try to regain its rights, with an announced meeting of Russian Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov, Ukrainian Dmytro Kouleba and their Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu Thursday in Turkey.

At this stage, investors are struggling to see a way out of the conflict given the preconditions for any dialogue posed by Moscow, namely the acceptance by Kiev of the demilitarization of Ukraine and a neutral status for this country.

The context of uncertainty about the economic impact of the conflict complicates the task of central banks committed to gradually withdrawing their monetary support put in place at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in order to contain inflation.

The offices of the London Metals Market (London Metal Exchange, LME), February 18, 2016 LEON NEAL AFP / Archives

The euro rose against the US dollar (+0.44%) to 1.0899 dollars around 08:55 GMT.

In prices, energy and defence/weapons stocks continued to benefit from a favorable context.

In Paris, Thales continued its rise of 3.18% to 118.50 euros.

TotalEnergies climbed 2.31% to 45.95 euros.

In London, BP rose 2.14%.

Mining stocks heavily exposed to Russia, extremely volatile and whose value has melted since the start of the war in Ukraine, rebounded on Tuesday, with Evraz gaining 34.61% to 103.65 pence and Polymetal International climbing 15.91% to 200 pence.

In Paris, the same trend for Eramet (+5.33%) and Aperam (+4.73%).

The travel sector was recovering from a painful session on Monday: IAG, parent company of British Airways and Iberia, gained 3.05% to 119.78%, Easyjet took 1.25% to 445 pence.

Air France-KLM rose 0.91% to 3.32 euros.

© 2022 AFP