HONG KONG: Energy firms led losses in Asia Tuesday as oil prices extended their recent losses, while most stock markets tumbled again and analysts questioned whether a recent rally may have run its course. Investors were handed a negative lead from Wall Street, where the plunge in crude also hammered oil-linked plays and all but wiped out Friday’s jobs-fuelled gains. Hopes that an upcoming meeting between the world’s top oil producers would lead to an output freeze were dealt a blow last week when kingpin Saudi Arabia said it would only do so if other major countries followed suit. With Iran, which has only just been allowed to resume exports, saying it is unlikely to take such action yet there are now concerns no agreement will be reached—exacerbating a global glut at a time of weak demand. Both main crude contracts fell Tuesday in Asia, with Brent down 0.4 percent at $37.51 and West Texas Intermediate 0.5 percent lower at $35.51, having broken above $40 a barrel in March. Woodside Petroleum fell 4.2 percent in Sydney while Santos was 5.3 percent lower and BHP Billiton ended down 3.3 percent. And Hong Kong-listed CNOOC sank 3.7 percent while PetroChina was 3.4 percent lower in the afternoon. Tokyo’s Inpex dived 4.2 percent by the close. The losses were mirrored across regional stock markets, with the Nikkei in Japan losing 2.4 percent owing to a surge in the yen to an 18-month high against the dollar, which hurts exporters. After the Federal Reserve’s… [Read full story]
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