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Oil prices surged by approximately five per cent on Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions on Russia’s major oil sector in an effort to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
The global benchmark, Brent North Sea crude, rose by 4.8 per cent, while West Texas Intermediate increased by 5.1 per cent.
On Wednesday, Trump announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s top two oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, and said his discussions with President Vladimir Putin were not progressing. This move coincided with another round of sanctions from the European Union as part of efforts to urge Moscow to conclude its three-and-a-half-year invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s foreign ministry warned that these sanctions could jeopardise diplomatic attempts to resolve the Ukraine conflict, asserting that the country had established a “strong immunity” to such measures.
Trump had been hesitant to impose new restrictions against Moscow for several months, but his patience diminished after plans for a new summit with Putin in Budapest fell through.
He previously claimed that India had agreed to reduce its purchases of Russian oil in a US trade agreement, a claim New Delhi has not confirmed.
In August, Trump raised tariffs on Indian exports to the US to 50 per cent, with his aides accusing India of contributing to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Most major stock markets rose as traders evaluated US-China trade relations and received another set of mixed earnings reports.
Beijing announced on Friday that it would begin tariff discussions with Washington, easing trade concerns over potential US restrictions on software exports to China.
Wall Street experienced an uptick in morning trading, while London’s FTSE 100 in Europe reached a new record high. Shares of Tesla plummeted by more than 5 per cent at the start of trading, but later pared their losses as the morning progressed.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company reported a significant decline in profits after the market closed on Wednesday, citing a burden from US tariffs and other costs that counteracted rising sales.
Gold, regarded as a haven, rebounded from recent steep selling to gain over one per cent, reaching around $4,100 an ounce, although it remains considerably below the record high of over $4,381 achieved earlier this week.
