Shares up as oil skids on hopes for Ukraine talks
SYDNEY: Most share markets firmed and oil slid on Monday on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, while bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and UK this week.
While Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with Poland on Sunday, both sides gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks.
Just the chance of peace saw S&P 500 stock futures add 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures rose 0.2%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.9% and FTSE futures 0.4%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 0.8%, but MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.1% by losses in China.
