Asian stocks ease, oil sinks as US weighs reserves release

Asian stocks ease, oil sinks as US weighs reserves release

Brent crude futures were down 4.4% at $108.50 a barrel and U.S. crude futures fell more than 5% to $101.76 a barrel in morning trade.







Reuters









March 31, 2022 / 08:46 AM IST





Asian stocks on Thursday eased after this week's global rally, following Wall Street's overnight stumble, while oil dropped sharply as the United States weighed a massive draw from its reserves to rein in surging fuel prices.

Brent crude futures were down 4.4% at $108.50 a barrel and U.S. crude futures fell more than 5% to $101.76 a barrel in morning trade.

The United States is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from strategic reserves, four U.S. sources said, as the White House tries to lower fuel prices that have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine late last month.

A stocks rally, meanwhile, lost momentum as hopes for a quick peace started to fade and the upbeat sentiment turned to worry about looming interest rate hikes.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fe.ll 0.2%, led by a 0.7% drop for Hong Kong's Hang Seng. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.2%. Australia's resource-heavy index was up 0.4%.

Overnight, the