As the hostilities in Ukraine increasingly worry investors, they have allowed the precious metal to reach a peak of $2,000.86 an ounce, its highest level since September 2020.
Oil prices continued to soar Monday in Asia, as did the price of gold which exceeded $ 2,000 an ounce, while stock markets in the region tumbled on the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the world economy . The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea came close to 140 dollars on Sunday around 11:00 p.m. GMT (midnight, French time), close to its absolute record of 147.50 dollars reached in July 2008. The prices of black gold are then fell again, while continuing to progress at a frantic pace: after 02:45 GMT (3:45 a.m. French time) the barrel of American WTI jumped 7.75% to 124.64 dollars and that of the barrel of Brent from the North Sea s flew 8.79% to 128.49 dollars.
Read alsoOil: the barrel of Brent is close to 140 dollars, close to the absolute record
In the face of the worsening war in Ukraine, direct sanctions against Moscow’s hydrocarbon exports are no longer a taboo concept. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken thus declared on Sunday that the United States and the European Union were discussing “very activelyof the possibility of banning imports of Russian oil.
Europeans are more cautious, however, as some regional states such as Germany are heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas. But even if Moscow’s black gold is not directly sanctioned for the moment in theory, it already finds almost no takers, which is already greatly disrupting the world supply. “Barring an end to hostilities, there’s not much on the horizon to slow downthe rise in oil prices, according to a National Australia Bank note released on Monday.
The euro falls
A third round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia is scheduled for Monday, but the markets were hardly expecting a favorable outcome after the failure of previous talks and the violence of the Russian offensive going crescendo. An escalation of the conflict in Ukraine would have economic consequences “devastatingat the global level, warned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday. In addition to the conflict itself, the sanctions imposed on Russia “will also have a substantial impact on the global economy and financial markets, with collateral effects for other countries“, according to the IMF.
Investors rushed into gold, the safe haven par excellence, which exceeded 2,000 dollars an ounce in Asian exchanges on Monday morning, a first since September 2020. Conversely, the equity markets were drinking the cup: on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the flagship Nikkei index fell 3.15% at the mid-session break. At 25,166.23 points, it had not fallen so low since the end of 2020. All sectors of activity on the Nikkei were rolled, with the unsurprising exception of energy.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: soaring wheat prices worry the world
Losses on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange were even worse, with its Hang Seng index dropping around 3.5% around 02:20 GMT (3:20 a.m. French time). In mainland China, Shanghai and Shenzhen lost more than 1%. On the currency market, the euro fell sharply against the dollar, falling to 1.0840 dollars around 2:50 a.m. GMT (3:50 a.m. French time) against 1.0928 dollars on Friday. The European currency also fell against the yen, at the rate of one euro for 124.54 yen against 125.48 yen on Friday at 9:00 p.m. GMT (10 p.m. French time). The dollar was almost stable against the yen, at the rate of one dollar for 114.86 yen against 114.82 yen at the end of last week.