Chinese refineries avoid buying Russian oil. Hungary ready to pay for Russian gas in rubles – Ukraine invasion

Europe points red under central bank pressure

Statements by US Federal Reserve Governor Lale Bryanard – released just minutes before the last central bank meeting – combined with developments in the war in Ukraine, putting pressure on the Asian market. Futures trading in Europe.

The future of the Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.4%.

During this Wednesday, investors will focus on releasing the minutes of the latest Fed meeting, looking for clues on the possibility of a 50 basis point increase in the federal fund rate at the next Fed meeting scheduled for May.

The US Federal Reserve (Federal Reserve) will accelerate the withdrawal of stimulus to the economy to stem the rise in inflation. In an address to an online conference on Tuesday, Governor Lale Brinard said the central bank would begin to reduce its assets on the balance sheet by early May.

After raising the country’s annual rate to 7.9% in February, Brinard warned that “reducing inflation is crucial.” This figure is four-tenths higher than in January, the largest year-on-year increase since January 1982, as energy prices have risen due to the conflict in Ukraine.

“The committee will formally tighten monetary policy through continuous rate hikes and begin to reduce the balance sheet at a rapid pace according to our May meeting,” he said of the upcoming Federal Market Committee meeting. Open (FOMC), which is scheduled for May 3rd and 4th.

In Asia, the session ended in the red, due to a significant increase in ten-year interest rates triggered by Brinard’s reports, and by the technology sector reflecting the losses of the North American representative on Wall Street. Topix fell 1.16%, Nikkei 1.38%. In Japan, the Softbank Group fell 2.49%. In South Korea, Kago lost 2.79%, Never fell 3.21%, while SK Hynix fell 2.58%.

In Hong Kong, Hong Kong fell 1.22%, mainly under pressure from Alibaba (-4.05%), Meituan (-2.81%) and Tencent (-1.85%). Shanghai fell 0.16%.