Oil firmer on OPEC+ deal, equities unable to shake pandemic fears

Oil firmer on OPEC+ deal, equities unable to shake pandemic fears

Global shares fell on Monday as investors braced for more signs of economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic although a landmark deal by OPEC and its allies to slash output helped oil prices climb in volatile trade.. The Nikkei fell 1.4 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped slightly, with South Korean shares falling 0.9 per cent.US S&P 500 mini futures dropped 1.54 per cent, erasing a brief gain to a one-month high made right after the start of trading.. International benchmark Brent futures rose 5.5 per cent to $33.22 per barrel.. While the Federal Reserve's stimulus has allayed fears of a financial crisis for now, the economy is far from returning to normalcy," said Hiroshi Watanabe, economist at Sony Financial Holdings.. Investors looked to whether the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged global economic growth, will soon peak in the United States and Europe, as had been hoped.". While panic selling we saw last month has faded, not many investors would want to chase stock prices higher given we are about to see more evidence of economic downturns," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.OPEC and allies led by Russia,