Stocks mixed, oil down as markets await news on Saudi plant

World shares were mixed on Tuesday and oil prices eased back pending updates on restoring output at a Saudi Aramco oil processing plant damaged by an attack over the weekend. Chinese benchmarks led declines in Asia after the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Hong Kong, citing its recent political turmoil. Possibility of a brief recession Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% to 12,362 after the ZEW index showed a drop in investor confidence in current economic conditions, pointing to the possibility of a brief recession, but sees a pick-up later in the year. The CAC 40 in Paris added 0.1% to 5,607 and the FTSE 100 in Britain climbed 0.1% to 7,331. On Wall Street, the futures contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both down 0.1%. Read: Oil Prices Rise As Attack On Saudi Facility Disrupts Output The 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. The weekend attack on the facility halted production of 5.7 million barrels of crude a day, more than half of the country’s global daily exports and more than 5% of the world’s daily crude oil production. The attack raised worries about the risk of more disruptions in the supply of oil at a time when the global economic 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 trading $1.06 lower at $61.84 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, it soared $8.05 to settle at $62.90 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, declined $1.09 to $67.93 per barrel. It jumped $8.80 to close at $69.02 a barrel in London. Read: 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 the S&P ASX/200 in Sydney added 0.3% to 6,695.30. Chinese benchmarks skidded after the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded Hong Kong, citing the city’s recent political turmoil. The Shanghai Composite index shed 1.7% to 2,978.12 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.2% to 26,790.24. The turmoil is damaging its attractiveness as a trade: Moody Moody’s said in a statement that the protests and their handling showed weaknesses in Hong Kong’s institutions. The turmoil was “damaging its attractiveness as a trade and financial hub,” it said. Hong Kong’s beleaguered chief executive, Carrie Lam, said the downgrade 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. The spike in oil prices boosted oil producers but weighed on shares in airlines, whose operations can be hurt by any rise in the price of fuel. China Eastern Airlines’ shares dropped 2.6%, while Cathay Pacific Airways shed 2.1%. Read: Drone Attacks Strike Major Saudi Aramco Facility, Oilfield Asian countries are the most affected by the drop in Saudi supplies. “Higher oil imports will weigh on trade balances. For countries that are running trade deficits, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, this will widen their deficit and subsequently exert downward pressure on the currency. A weakened currency will then push up oil import bill further,” said analysts at Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. However, the bank said there is still no cause for big concern. The oil price gyrations have somewhat overshadowed this week’s headline event, the Federal Reserve’s meeting on interest rates. Investors are confident the central bank will cut short-term rates by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 1.75% to 2%. It would be the second such cut in two months, as the Fed tries to protect the economy from a global slowdown and the effects of the U.S.-China trade war. In currency trading, the dollar was steady at 108.15 Japanese yen, while the euro gained to $1.1022 from $1.1001 on Monday. Read: Saudi Arabia To Regain India's Top Oil Supplier Spot After Reliance Deal

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Stocks mixed, oil down as markets await news on Saudi plant

World shares were mixed on Tuesday and oil prices eased back pending updates on restoring output at a Saudi Aramco oil processing plant damaged by an attack.

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