By Andrew Galbraith

SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – Prices rose again Wednesday as Asian stocks struggled to find footing after investors evaluated the effects of the conflict in Ukraine and a U.S. ban against Russian oil.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the oil price has shot up since then. The crude oil prices have been rising steadily, having already risen in January, due to increased supply and fears about a stronger global economy. The price of oil is roughly twice its December 2012 low.

In retaliation to the invasion of Iraq, President Joe Biden, with strong support from American lawmakers and voters, imposed an immediate ban against Russian oil imports. This could lead to higher U.S. gasoline prices, which can slow economic growth.

This ban will lift all U.S.- and European sanctions against Moscow that were imposed for the launching of Europe’s largest war since World War Two. Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed many civilians and targeted cities in the country.

Britain has also declared that it will stop imports of Russian oil or products from 2022.

Stephen Innes is managing partner of SPI Asset Management.

“Putting in force sanctions, without first developing surrogate supplies contingencies risks (going), much higher

Brent, the global benchmark Brent, was trading last at $131.39/barrel. This is up 2.6% from Monday’s peak of $139.13.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was at $126.41 per barrel an increase of 2.19%.

Russia describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special operations” and earlier this week warned that oil prices could rise to $300 per barrel. It also threatened to close its main gas line to Germany, if it was prevented from exporting its crude oil.

MSCI’s Asia-Pacific broadest index outside Japan of equity markets was down 0.2%, due to a reverse in Chinese shares.

China’s blue-chip CSI300 index fell 1.27% following inflation data that reflected a combination soft domestic demand, high commodity prices and the continuing rise in coronavirus infections.

The rate of infection in Hong Kong was more than 2 %, despite the fact that infections are at record levels.

However, regional losses are contained by gains elsewhere. Australia is resource-heavy and its 0.85% was a good example. Tokyo saw a 0.3% increase.

“I believe we are suffering from Russia fatigue. There have been 10-12 days of Russian headline bombardment. It’s extremely tragic, but I believe we have priced in the worst of it all,” Matt Simpson, City Index senior market analyst, said.

Asia saw wobbly price movements, which followed another day of Wall Street red, when the declined 0.56%, the shed 0.72%, and dropped 0.28%.

Rodrigo Catril is a senior FX strategist for National Australia Bank (OTC). “Markets are still volatile. They cannot confidently price implications from news flow given the complicated state of global economic.”

The yen fell 0.16 percent to 115.84. Meanwhile, the dollar was able to hold its own against other currencies to 99.056.

Euro was 0.7% more expensive at $1.0907, and the last exchange rate for the rouble was 122.5 to the greenback.

U.S. Treasury yields dipped, benchmark 10-year notes yielding 1.8507%. This is down from Tuesday’s 1.871%. 2.year notes last yielded 1.6008% in comparison to 1.629%.

After earlier falling on the strength of the dollar, gold prices rose 0.14% and settled at $2,055.31 an ounce.