Oil Price Rises as Russian Sanctions Take Effect

FT/

Oil prices rose today as sweeping western restrictions on Russian oil took effect and as investors increased their bets that China would reopen to the world early next year after Beijing eased its growth-dampening zero-Covid policies.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.7 per cent to $86.97 a barrel, though prices have fallen almost 30 per cent from around $120 since last peaking in early June.

The move in commodity markets came as Opec and its allies opted not to alter the group’s production targets in response to the EU’s move to bar seaborne Russian crude imports, which takes effect today.

EU member states last week agreed a $60 price cap on other countries’ purchases of Russian oil in an attempt to limit profits for Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

Reports that several cities across China had relaxed Covid-19 restrictions helped Asian equities rise, along with fuel prices. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished 4.5 per cent higher and has risen more than 17 per cent in the past month, while China’s CSI 300 index added 2 per cent.

Top movers in the latter included China Railway Group and infrastructure group China Communications Construction, both of which gained more than 10 per cent.

The dollar fell almost 1 per cent against the renminbi to Rmb6.955 per dollar, its lowest level since September.