Oil prices have steadied after the cartel of major exporters and their allies reiterated plans to stick to their targets to cut production, rather than increase output to make up for any shortfall from Russian supplies.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, added 0.2 per cent on Tuesday to trade at $87.66. West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, rose 0.01 per cent at $80.07.
Saudi Arabia on Monday reiterated that the Opec+ group, which includes the cartel and allies such as Russia, would stick to its October decision to cut production targets by 2mn barrels a day.
The kingdom’s comments came in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report that the Opec group of oil-producing countries might increase supply by up to 500,000 barrels a day. Such a move would have alleviated a potential shortfall once an EU embargo on Russian oil shipments comes into effect in early December.
The report, since denied, sparked a fall of as much as 6 per cent in each benchmark on Monday.
In equity markets, the regional Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.2 per cent in early trading and London’s FTSE gained 0.6 per cent. Contracts tracking Wall Street’s S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 0.1 per cent ahead of the New York open.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.2 per cent, while China’s CSI 300 was flat, Japan’s Topix rose 1.2 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.6 per cent.
The dollar has inched 1 per cent higher against a basket of six peers over the past week, trimming its decline for November to 3.6 per cent.
In government bond markets, the two-year Treasury yield, which is particularly sensitive to interest-rate expectations, fell 0.02 percentage points to 4.5 per cent. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield slipped 0.02 percentage points to 3.8 per cent. Yields fall as prices rise.
