Yesterday world financial markets closed mainly with a drop. With that, in Europe the British FTSE 100 fell 0.07 percent to 6,893.44 points, the French CAC 40 grew 0.62 percent up to 4,828.95 points, and the German DAX 30 gained 0.34 percent going up to 10,997.72 points. Yesterday in Brussels, Greece submitted a request for a six-month extension to its loan agreement. However, the spokesman for German Finance Minister W. Schaeuble said that Greece might just try to buy time and wouldn’t follow through with the demands of the program. The Eurogroup will discuss this issue again today.
There was a steady negative trend on the Russian equity market due to falling oil prices. The MICEX index declined by 0.65 percent reaching 1,797.87 points while the RTS index plunged 2.46 percent down to 906.51 points. Investors reacted to a continuing drop in the price of oil as well as to the news about ceasefire violations in Ukraine.
In the USA, the Dow Jones fell 0.24 percent down to 17,985.77 points, the S&P 500 shed 0.11 percent down to 2,097.45 points whereas the NASDAQ grew 0.37 percent up to 4,924.70 points.
Oil prices went down yesterday. The NYMEX price of WTI oil futures for March dropped by $0.98 and made $51.16 a barrel. On London’s ICE, the price of Brent oil futures for April went down by $0.32 and reached $60.21 a barrel.
On the global Forex market, EUR/USD is experiencing a further correction. The pair is traded within a very narrow range. It may break out of the range after the Eurogroup makes a decision regarding the Greek predicament.
Anna Gorenkova
NordFX Analyst