- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
Oil prices plunge on China lockdowns, stocks waver
Oil prices plunged Tuesday as major crude consumer and global economic engine China placed nearly 30 million people under Covid lockdown.
Hong Kong, Chinese mainland and European markets slumped, but Wall Street opened higher, with investors tracking the resurgence of the coronavirus in China, the war in Ukraine and a key US Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Crude futures slumped under $100 per barrel just a week after benchmark contract Brent North Sea soared to a 14-year high close to $140 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We have good news and we have bad news," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
"The good news is that oil prices are down sharply... The bad news is that the big drop in oil prices is due to growth concerns which, by extension, don't bode well for earnings growth prospects," O'Hare said.
While the drop in oil prices could ease inflation concerns, analysts warned that the lockdowns in China could worsen a global supply-chain crisis that has played a major role in driving up prices.
The stock market "negativity has spread beyond China's borders with chip makers in Europe taking a hit," said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.
The virus situation in the world's second-biggest economy has brought more volatility to markets that have swung between fears over the war in Ukraine and hope that Moscow and Kyiv could strike a peace deal.
"This double whammy of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with the fresh chaos caused by Covid in China is rattling nerves," said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
- Harming 'Putin's war machine' -
Global stock markets have been in a spiral since Russian troops marched into Ukraine, leading international powers to impose crippling sanctions on the country and numerous companies to pull out.
The UK government on Tuesday imposed an additional 35-percent import tariff on a swathe of Russian goods, including vodka, and banned exports of luxury products.
"We want to cause maximum harm to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war machine while minimising the impact on UK businesses," the Department for International Trade said.
A series of powerful explosions Tuesday rocked residential districts of Kyiv, killing two people, just hours before talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume.
Among the hardest-hit stock markets in recent days has been Hong Kong, which was already under pressure from China's regulatory crackdown on technology firms as part of the government's move to tighten its grip on the economy.
News that US authorities were also looking to crack the whip over Chinese firms listed in New York added to the selling pressure.
Investors are also keeping a close eye on the Fed's two-day meeting which ends Wednesday, with policymakers expected to hike interest rates to bring decades-high inflation under control.
- Key figures around 1345 GMT -
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 6.9 percent at $95.92 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 6.6 percent at $99.87
New York - DOW: UP at 33,083.26 points
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 7,143.69
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 1.1 percent at 13,777.71
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.0 percent at 6,309.19
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.9 percent at 3,705.84
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 5.7 percent at 18,415.08 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 25,346.48 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 5.0 percent at 3,063.97 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0988 from $1.0949 late Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3071 from $1.3003
Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.07 pence from 84.18 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 117.94 yen from 118.19 yen
burs-bcp-lth/spm
E.Paulino--PC