Asian stock markets close on high note
On yearly basis, major stock exchanges were down amid surging inflation, aggressive rate hikes, resurgence of COVID-19
Major Asian stock markets closed higher on the final trading day of the year.
The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, gained 0.41% for a reading of 3,247.80 points. On a yearly basis, the index lost 13.9%.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was flat at 26,094.50 while it has fallen 9.37% since the beginning of 2022, marking its first annual drop in 4 years amid high global inflation and aggressive rate hikes from major central banks.
The Hang Seng, the benchmark for bluechip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, rose 0.20% to 19,781.41. On an annual basis the Hang Seng fell 15.46%, worst year since 2011.
China's Shanghai Stock Exchange gained 0.51% to 3,089.26. However, the index dropped over 15% this year due to COVID-19, a property crisis, and slowing global growth.
The Singapore index climbed 0.06%, to 3,251.32 while gaining 4.09% for the year.
Russia on Tuesday banned oil sales to countries and companies that comply with a price cap agreed by Western nations, briefly helping to lift crude prices.
"The supply of Russian oil and oil products to foreign legal entities and individuals is prohibited if the contracts for these supplies directly or indirectly" are using a price cap, a presidential decree said. The decree will be in effect from February 1 until July 1.
It added that the ban may be lifted in individual cases on the basis of a "special decision"
its from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The price ceiling of $60 per barrel agreed by the European Union, G7 and Australia came into force in early December and seeks to restrict Russia's revenue while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market.
Oil prices initially jumped on the announcement and analysts pointed to expectations for stronger demand due to reopening actions by China after lengthy Covid-19 restrictions.
But most of the gains in oil prices had evaporated by the end of the trading session. Analysts have noted that Moscow's move will not impede deliveries to India, China, and other importers that did not join the price cap.
The Russian action "should not come too much as a surprise for the market really, given what we heard from them over the recent months," said Matt Smith of Kpler. "It'll tighten things up a bit, but not too much."
Brent oil futures for delivery in February ended up 0.5 percent at $84.33 a barrel.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February slipped less than 0.1 percent to $79.53 a barrel.
Introduced alongside an EU embargo on seaborne deliveries of Russian crude oil, the cap aims to ensure Russia cannot bypass the embargo by selling its oil to third countries at high prices. More than 2,000 soldiers and police surrounded two districts in El Salvador's capital on Saturday as part of President Nayib Bukele's war on gangs, the second such operation this month in the Central American country.
"As of this morning, the Tutunichapa district in San Salvador is totally surrounded," Bukele posted on Twitter. "More than 1,000 soldiers and 130 police officers will extract the criminals who still remain," he added.
Bukele later tweeted that 1,000 more soldiers and 100 police officers had been dispatched to La Granjita, another neighborhood in the capital.
"After encircling Tutunichapa, a famous drug distribution center, we knew that many drug traffickers would take refuge in the neighborhood of La Granjita, another famous distribution center", Bukele tweeted.
Images released Saturday by the office of the president showed heavily armed soldiers entering Tutunichapa, a populous district where small houses mostly constructed of concrete blocks stand alongside one of the many polluted streams that run through San Salvador.
Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro posted photos of members of an anti-narcotics police unit with drug-sniffing dogs.
"We are going to extract every criminal from our communities," Villatoro said in a Twitter post.