Oil drama continues to rock markets in Asia but Europe and U.S. rally

European stock markets mostly rose Tuesday as investors snapped up bargains after the previous day’s slump but London was lower following poorly-received British data, analysts said. Asian shares slumped earlier in the day after further drama on oil markets drove U.S. crude to less than $50 a barrel for the first time since the first half of 2009 and handed Wall Street its worst losses in three months. Some of Europe’s major exchanges recovered to trade in positive territory after a rough start, but London’s oil- and gas-heavy FTSE was still down more than half a percent, dragging Europe-wide indices into the red. U.S. stocks opened higher Tuesday, joining European equity markets in stabilizing after Monday’s rout. Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 17,543.87, up 42.22 points (0.24 percent).

[The year is] barely three trading days old and already the two biggest themes that were predicted to affect the markets this year are making headlines: oversupply of commodities and the eurozone.

Evan Lucas, a markets strategist in Melbourne at IG Ltd., wrote in an email to clients, according to Bloomberg News

Tokyo’s Nikkei led an Asian share slump, plunging 3.02 percent, or 525.52 points, to 16,883.19, Seoul lost 1.74 percent, or 33.30 points, to close at 1,882.45 and Sydney fell 1.57 percent, or 85.53 points, to 5,364.8. Hong Kong fell 0.99 percent, or 235.91 points, to 23,485.41 but Shanghai was flat, recovering early losses to edge up 0.93 points to 3,351.45 – a five-and-a-half-year high. The euro fell by a third of a percent to $1.1891, just off Monday’s 9-year low.

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