Global stocks rebound as Russia-Ukraine peace talks in progress

Bangkok: World shares were mostly higher Tuesday as another round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine got underway.

Crude oil prices reversed course with moderate gains after sinking 7 per cent on Monday. Markets remain unsettled as investors try to gauge what's next for inflation and the global economy as the repercussions of Russia's invasion of Ukraine continue to play out. The first face-to-face talks in two weeks between Russia and Ukraine began Tuesday in Turkey, raising meager hopes of progress on ending a war that has ground into a bloody campaign of attrition.

Germany's DAX jumped 1.3 per cent to 14,599.17 and the CAC40 in Paris surged 1.7 per cent to 6,700.18. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.8 per cent to 7,531.55. Russia's MOEX index climbed 3.7 per cent in the second day of full trading after it was closed for about a month following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Limits have been imposed to curb volatility. On Wall Street, the futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials gained 0.3 per cent. On Monday the S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent, while the Dow eked out a 0.3 per cent gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 1.3 per cent higher and the Russell 2000 index inched up less than 0.1 per cent.

In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.1 per cent to 28,252.42 and the Kospi in Seoul added 0.4 per cent to 2,740.13. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong picked up 0.8 per cent to 21,864.68, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.2 per cent to 3,203.94 as the city entered a second day of a lockdown to combat a Covid-19 outbreak.

A two-phase lockdown on Shanghai's 26 million people is testing the limits of China's hardline "zero-Covid" strategy whose effects are being felt beyond the country's borders. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 0.7 per cent to 7,464.30 as the government said it plans to increase spending on national security while reducing costs for households, in part by reducing a tax on gasoline. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was to present the proposed budget Tuesday. Weaker oil prices have helped push shares higher, said Yeap Jun Rong of IG. "China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are major oil importers, hence lower oil prices may be deemed as positive for their economies," Yeap said in a commentary.