Stock markets around the world are falling sharply this Tuesday (3), with the war in the Middle East entering its fourth day and fears of the impact of the conflict’s expansion on inflation and global trade.
On the opposite path, investors seek protection in the dollar, which is rising against the main global currencies.
In the energy market, the price of oil soars to around US$80 with the risk of a disruption in supply due to interference in the .
The US and Israeli war against Iran has intensified since the first attacks on Saturday, with Israel attacking Lebanon and Iran responding with attacks on Gulf countries and threatening ships that use the important Strait of Hormuz.
Wall Street’s main indices have been operating in the red since pre-market, contaminated by fears in Asia and Europe. Around 12:30 pm, Dow Jones lost 2.35%, while S&P 500 fell 2.2% and Nasdaq lost 2.4%.
as the prospect of a protracted war in the Middle East weighs on investor sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost 3.4%, while in London the FTSE 100 lost 3.31%. In the same vein, in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 3.4%, while in Frankfurt, the DAX fell 4%.
Asian markets also closed sharply lower this session, expanding the previous day’s negative sentiment.
Leading the losses in Asia, the South Korean Kospi index suffered a 7.24% drop in Seoul — in its worst trading session in 19 months —, on the return from a holiday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.06% in Tokyo, the Hang Seng fell 1.12% in Hong Kong, and the Taiex shed 2.20% in Taiwan.
Until recently, the Kospi and Nikkei had been reaching successive all-time highs.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.43%, while the less comprehensive Shenzhen Composite recorded a more significant loss, 3.24%.
Ibovespa drops more than 4%
contaminated by global risk aversion in the face of the worsening conflict in the Middle East, with Petrobras also succumbing, even with a new spike in oil prices on the international market.
At around 12:30 pm, the stock market showed a significant drop of 4.3%, at 181,158.49 points.
Meanwhile, the dollar started the day on a firm rise against the real, in line with the strengthening of the American currency against most other currencies abroad amid worsening tensions in the Middle East, which increased the search for security.
At the same time, the spot dollar showed a strong increase of 2.93%, quoted at R$5.32 on sale.
Dollar and oil rise
In the opposite direction to the stock market, the dollar and oil rose strongly this session.
The North American currency gains almost 1.2% against the main global currencies, according to the DXY index.
Oil also has another bullish session. A barrel of Brent, a reference in the global market, rises around 5.4%, trading above US$80. WTI gains more than 8%, at almost US$77 a barrel.
Natural gas also continues to rise solidly, with an increase of almost 30%.
After strong rises the day before, precious metals operate in the red today. Gold loses around 5.5%, with a troy ounce trading at around US$5,000, while silver loses more than 9.5%, close to US$80.
*Com Reuters
