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Asia markets: Russia-Ukraine conflict, currencies, oil

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SINGAPORE — Oil prices leaped 2% and Asia-Pacific shares mostly rose on Friday as investors assessed the Russia-Ukraine conflict following a massive comeback on Wall Street overnight.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futuresOn Friday, oil prices rose 2.84% to $95.45/barrel in Asia trade. International benchmark Brent crudeThe price of oil rose by 2.85% to $101.90. After rising by more than 8 percent on news about Russia’s attack, oil lost some of its gains Thursday.

Spot goldLast traded at $1.913.90, up 0.5%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225Friday’s Topix gain was 0.74%, with the Topix up 1.5%. In South Korea, however, the Kospi rose 0.93% and the Kosdaq added 2.17%.

The Shanghai composite in mainland China added 0.54%, and the Shenzhen component jumped 1.08%. Hong Kong Hang Seng index declined 0.14%.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia advanced 0.14%.

After the announcement, block shares in Australia soared by 32.92% reported better than expected fourth-quarter profitThe stock market jumped 18% on Thursday in the US. Stock prices rose by 18% in the hours following the New York Stock Exchange’s listing of the company.

Jack Dorsey founded the payments firm previously called Square. Block shares rose more than 40% earlier in the Asia session.

MSCI’s Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan was 0.75 percent higher.

Russia is under sanctions

On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden stated that Washington would seek to isolate Russia by issuing new sanctions in response to Moscow’s invasion. President Joe Biden also announced that additional troops will be allowed to remain in Germany by the White House.

Also, the European Union agreed to increase sanctions against Russia and called on Russia to halt all military actions and pull its troops out.

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Investors in America appeared to be able to handle Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. Stocks made remarkable gains to end the session higher, after dropping sharply during the earlier sessions.

The S&P 500 gained 1.5% after falling more than 2.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased a 859-point drop to advance 92.07 points. After losing 3.5% in trading hours, the tech-focused Nasdaq composite rose 3.3%.

Currencies

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