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Oil futures settled on Monday at their highest level in almost two weeks on the back of a weaker U.S. dollar, despite comments from Saudi Arabia that indicated it would maintain crude-production levels.
May crude CLK5, -1.26% tacked on 88 cents, or 1.9%, to settle at $47.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest settlement for a most-active contract since March 11.
May Brent crude LCOK5, -0.66% added 60 cents, or 1.1%, to end at $55.92 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.
Gold futures finished higher on Monday for a fourth session in a row with concerns surrounding Greece’s debt problems and a sharp drop in the U.S. dollar providing support for the metal.
Gold for April delivery on Comex GCJ5, -0.19% rose $3.10, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,187.70 an ounce on Comex. May silver SIK5, -0.07% added less than a penny to $16.891 an ounce. Gold ended Friday with a 2.8% gain for the week, while silver jumped around 9%.
Here are the latest trading levels for Asia's major stock markets:
Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, -0.08% ) down 0.2%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.61% ) down 0.5%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -1.35% ) flat
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, +0.28% ) up 0.1%
Seoul (Kospi SEU, -0.12% ) down 0.1%
Taipei (Taiex Y9999, -0.40% ) down 0.4%
Asian equity markets turned lower on Tuesday after a gauge of Chinese manufacturing plunged to an 11-month low in March, while the euro was boosted by hopes of a breakthrough in Greece's bailout talks with Germany.
Comments from the US Federal Reserve's vice chairman suggesting interest rates would rise slower than expected put further downward pressure on the dollar.
Shanghai - which rose Monday for a ninth straight session to a near seven year high - sank 0.60 per cent, while Hong Kong lost 0.33 per cent.
Tokyo shed 0.19 per cent and Seoul was 0.11 per cent lower. Sydney was flat.
MALAYSIA share prices opened higher on Tuesday with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index up 2.90points to 1,798.75
Volume was about 49 million lots worth RM18 million.
Gainers outnumbered losers 93 to 46.
