World shares were mixed on Tuesday and oil prices eased back pending updates on restoring output at a Saudi Aramco oil processing plant damd by an attack over weekend. Chinese benchmarks led declines in Asia after credit rating ncy Moody’s downgred Hong Kong, citing its recent political turmoil.

Possibility of a brief recession

Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% to 12,362 after ZEW index showed a drop in investor confidence in current ecomic conditions, pointing to possibility of a brief recession, but sees a pick-up later in year. CAC 40 in Paris ded 0.1% to 5,607 and FTSE 100 in Britain climbed 0.1% to 7,331. On Wall Street, futures contracts for Dow Jones Industrial Aver and S&P 500 were both down 0.1%.

Re: Oil Prices Rise As Attack On Saudi Facility Disrupts Output

U.S. and international benchmarks for crude fell back slightly after vaulting more than 14% overnight due to an attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing plant.

weekend attack on facility halted production of 5.7 million barrels of crude a day, more than half of country’s global daily exports and more than 5% of world’s daily crude oil production.

attack raised worries about risk of more disruptions in supply of oil at a time when global ecomic outlook is clouded by uncertainty.

Crude prices jumped 14% on Monday, comparable to a 14.5% jump on Aug. 6, 1990, following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

On Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil was tring $1.06 lower at $61.84 per barrel in electronic tring on New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, it soared $8.05 to settle at $62.90 a barrel. Brent crude oil, international standard, declined $1.09 to $67.93 per barrel. It jumped $8.80 to close at $69.02 a barrel in London.

Re: Saudi Arabia Minister: Production Halted In Aramco Oil Refineries

In Asia, shares were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index recovered from early losses to edge 0.1% higher, closing at 22,001.32. South Korea’s Kospi was flat at 2,062.33 and S&P ASX/200 in Sydney ded 0.3% to 6,695.30. Chinese benchmarks skidded after credit rating ncy Moody’s downgred Hong Kong, citing city’s recent political turmoil.

Shanghai Composite index shed 1.7% to 2,978.12 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.2% to 26,790.24.

turmoil is damaging its attractiveness as a tre: Moody

Moody’s said in a statement that protests and ir handling showed weaknesses in Hong Kong’s institutions. turmoil was “damaging its attractiveness as a tre and financial hub,” it said. Hong Kong’s beleaguered chief executive, Carrie Lam, said downgre was “disappointing.”

Elsewhere in Asia, India’s Sensex fell 1.7% to 36,478.74. Shares also lost ground in Taiwan and Singapore but rose in Indonesia and Thailand. spike in oil prices boosted oil producers but weighed on shares in airlines, whose operations can be hurt by any rise in price of fuel. China Eastern Airlines’ shares dropped 2.6%, while Cathay Pacific Airways shed 2.1%.

Re: Drone Attacks Strike Major Saudi Aramco Facility, Oilfield

Asian countries are most affected by drop in Saudi supplies. “Higher oil imports will weigh on tre balances. For countries that are running tre deficits, such as Indonesia and Philippines, this will widen ir deficit and subsequently exert downward pressure on currency. A weakened currency will n push up oil import bill furr,” said analysts at Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.

However, bank said re is still cause for big concern.

oil price gyrations have somewhat overshowed this week’s heline event, Federal Reserve’s meeting on interest rates. Investors are confident central bank will cut short-term rates by a quarter of a percent point to a range of 1.75% to 2%. It would be second such cut in two months, as Fed tries to protect ecomy from a global slowdown and effects of U.S.-China tre war. In currency tring, dollar was stey at 108.15 Japanese yen, while euro gained to $1.1022 from $1.1001 on Monday.

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