ROUNDUP: RISK OF RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT SOARING, GLOBAL MARKET TURMOIL INTENSIFIES

ROUNDUP: RISK OF RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT SOARING, GLOBAL MARKET TURMOIL INTENSIFIES

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 24. Summary: The risk of conflict between Russia and Ukraine has risen sharply, and the turmoil in major global markets has intensified

Xinhua News Agency reporter

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised speech early on the 24th that he had decided to launch a special military operation in the Donbas region. The sudden escalation of the situation in Ukraine caused great volatility in the global market. Major stock indexes fell significantly, energy prices soared, and the prices of safe-haven assets such as gold rose further.

In the Asia-Pacific market, the Tokyo stock market fell for five consecutive trading days. The Nikkei 225 stock average price index and the Tokyo Stock Exchange stock price index fell 1.81% and 1.25% respectively on the 24th. The Nikkei stock index hit a new low for the year.

The S&P Australia 200 Index opened lower on the 24th, and the decline increased, and it closed down 215.10 points, or 2.99%, with all 11 sectors down. The Australian Financial Review said the stock market tumbled as investors moved from risky assets to the safety of government bonds and gold.

The S&P New Zealand 50 Index closed down more than 400 points, or 3.3%, on the 24th, the largest one-day drop since March 23, 2020.

Singapore's Straits Times Index closed sharply lower on the 24th, down 3.45%.

The Indian stock market fell sharply on the 24th, with the Sensex30 index closing down 4.72%.

European stock markets generally fell sharply at the opening on the 24th. The 100-stock average price index of the British London stock market "Financial Times" fell 2.86% after the opening; the French Paris stock market CAC40 index fell by nearly 4% at the opening after six consecutive trading days; Germany The DAX index of the Frankfurt stock market fell sharply by 3.59% as of 9:09 local time.

Affected by the latest situation in Ukraine, the Moscow Stock Exchange stock index, one of Russia's two major stock exchange indexes, opened lower in early trading on the 24th, falling nearly 10% at one point. About 2 hours after the market opened, the exchange announced that trading was suspended. After the resumption of trading, the stock index continued to tumble, with an intraday drop of more than 40%. As of 12:00 Moscow time (17:00 Beijing time) on the 24th, another important Russian stock index, the US dollar-denominated Russian trading system stock index, fell by nearly 50%.

According to data from the Moscow Stock Exchange on the 24th, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to launch a special military operation in the Donbas region, the exchange rate of Russia's local currency, the ruble, plummeted.

According to Reuters, gold, which is a safe-haven asset, was further sought after. The international gold price jumped more than 2% after the Russian side announced a special military operation. The most active April gold futures price in the New York Mercantile Exchange gold futures market was intraday. more than $1,940 an ounce.

Jeffrey Haley, a senior market analyst at Anda, an online foreign exchange trading platform, believes that the international gold price may challenge the $2,000 per ounce mark in the next few trading days.

In terms of energy, the price of Brent crude oil futures in London for April delivery broke through US$100 a barrel on the 24th, rising above US$102 for the first time in September 2014; Light sweet crude futures rose to $97.4 a barrel, their highest since August 2014.

Affected by the expected shortage of crude oil supply, the international crude oil futures price has risen by more than 20 US dollars per barrel since the beginning of this year. As the world's major oil and gas exporter, Russia's move on the Ukraine issue has further exacerbated concerns about energy shortages.

Japanese and Australian officials said on the 24th that they are ready to use crude oil reserves to deal with the impact of the situation in Ukraine on energy supply.

Frederick Neumann, an economist at HSBC, said that the current world economy is suffering from high inflation and supply chain bottlenecks. The growth rate brings a big drag.

Some market analysts believe that the situation in Ukraine has become one of the key factors affecting the market trend.

Lyle Aconel, an analyst at Bank of New York Mellon Investment Management Co., said that geopolitical risks and the tightening of monetary policy by major central banks are superimposed, and "market turmoil is expected to continue in the next few months."