Global stocks stabilize ahead of European Central Bank meeting despite steep rise in COVID-19 cases in Asia
- Date: 22-Apr-2021
- Source: Business Insider
- Sector:Financial Markets
- Country:Gulf
Global stocks stabilize ahead of European Central Bank meeting despite steep rise in COVID-19 cases in Asia
Global stocks held steady on Thursday ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy update and despite COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Europe being extended and cases rising globally.
As COVID-19 cases and deaths have continued to surge after last week saw the highest number of cases so far through the pandemic, lockdown restrictions have been tightened or extended in a number of countries.
India recorded the highest amount of daily cases by any country during the pandemic on Wednesday.
This has mostly impacted oil prices, with Brent crude down 0.9% and WTI down 0.8% on Thursday. This is the third consecutive day oil prices have fallen, as post-pandemic economic recovery concerns in major economies grow. The easing of restrictions in some European countries such as France could not balance out the downwards trend.
A US house panel also pushed a bill that allows for anti-trust lawsuits against OPEC to be filed, but this had little impact on the oil market.
Despite Japan being hit hard by COVID-19 in recent weeks, the Nikkei 225 recovered on Wednesday and was up 2.38% at the end of the trading day. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong and China's Shanghai Composite were little changed on the day,