BEIJING –
Global oil stocks and prices fell on Friday after South Africa detected a fast-spreading coronavirus variant and the European Union proposed suspending air travel from southern Africa.
The London benchmark fell by an unusually wide margin of 3.3% at the open and Tokyo lost 2.5%. Shanghai, Frankfurt and Hong Kong also fell. Wall Street futures fell.
Several European countries tightened anti-virus controls this week after their case numbers spiked. Austria imposed a 10-day embargo, while Italy restricted the activities of unvaccinated people. Americans are advised by the government to avoid Germany and Denmark.
27 EU countries have proposed a travel suspension to member governments after South Africa said the variant was spreading in its most populous province. The UK has banned flights from South Africa and five neighboring countries.
“Investors are likely to ask questions first and questions later until more information becomes available,” said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda in a note.
In early trading, the FTSE in London fell to 7,067.17 and the DAX in Frankfurt lost 3.3% to 15,391.00. CAC in Paris fell 4% to 6,789.13.
On Wall Street, futures on the benchmark S&P 500 index lost 1.6 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.6% to 3,564.09 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell to 28,751.62. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 2.7% to 24,080.52.
Kospi in Seoul lost 1.5% to 2,936.44 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 dropped 1.7% to 7,279.30.
India’s Sensex fell 2.2% to 57,499.50. New Zealand and Southeast Asia markets also fell.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 closed up 0.2 percent on Wednesday. US markets were closed on Thursday for a holiday and will reopen on Friday for a shortened session.
Investors were more cautious after Federal Reserve officials said in notes from their October meeting released this week that they foresee the ability to respond to higher inflation by interest rate hike earlier than previously planned.
Investors fear central banks may feel pressure to pull out stimulus earlier than planned due to stronger-than-expected inflation. The Fed earlier said it foresees keeping interest rates low through the end of next year.
Financial markets have been buoyed by strong US corporate earnings and signs that the global economy is recovering from last year’s historic decline in activity due to the pandemic. Share prices have been boosted by easy credit and other measures implemented by the Fed and other central banks.
In the energy market, the price of US benchmark crude oil fell $4.52 to $73.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the base price for international oils, fell $3.65 to $77.27 a barrel in London.
The dollar fell to 114.39 yen from Thursday’s 115.36 yen. The euro rose to $1.1243 from $1.1221.
