New Delhi, Feb 28
US stock futures tumbled and oil prices surged on Monday morning as investors grew increasingly concerned about the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, CNN reported.
On Wall Street, Dow futures plunged nearly 600 points, or 1.7 per cent. S&P 500 futures fell 2 per cent and Nasdaq futures were 2.7 per cent lower.
In Asia, markets mostly declined. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.4 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 0.3 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite slid 0.1 per cent. Korea's Kospi erased earlier gains and was nearly flat, CNN reported.
The conflict also threatens to exacerbate food inflation as Russia is the world's top exporter of wheat, and Ukraine is also a significant exporter of both wheat and corn. Wheat futures soared 7 per cent on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Global markets had been turbulent last week after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine, and the pain has spread beyond stocks.
The Russian ruble plummeted 36 per cent on Monday against the US dollar to 114.11, after Western countries announced new sanctions against Russia, including expelling certain Russian banks from SWIFT, the high-security network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world.
The disruption to oil in particular is concerning to investors. Oil prices surged — Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 4.2 per cent to $102.05 a barrel, US crude rose 5.2 per cent to $96.33 a barrel, CNN reported.
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