Hong Kong stocks fall as oil once again trades near US$100
Brent crude rises as much as 8 per cent to US$99.50 a barrel even after Western nations take steps to mitigate oil prices
Hong Kong stocks fell on Thursday as the Middle East conflict showed no signs of ending and oil prices rose again.
The Hang Seng Index traded 0.1 per cent lower at 25,848 as of 9.40am. The Hang Seng Tech Index added 0.1 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index eased 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index barely changed.
Iraq announced the closure of oil ports after two tankers were attacked, outweighing the impact of a record release of emergency oil reserves by wealthy nations. Oil prices traded near US$100 a barrel again after retreating earlier in the week.
Brent crude jumped 8 per cent to US$99.50 a barrel before edging down to US$97.70 and West Texas Intermediate rose to US$93.20 a barrel.
After the International Energy Agency said this week that its member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency stocks, the largest volume of emergency oil release in its history, the US announced plans to release 172 million barrels as part of its efforts to cool down soaring oil prices.
Chinese beverage company Nongfu Spring led the declines, falling 3.9 per cent to HK$43.62. Sportswear giant Li Ning fell 2.8 per cent to HK$20.02. CMOC Group, one of China’s biggest miners, lost 2.7 per cent to HK$20.04.