Oil rose on Monday as upbeat manufacturing data from China, the world’s biggest crude importer, led to renewed optimism for fuel demand, although uncertainty about a Ukraine peace deal and global economic growth from potential U.S. tariffs loomed.
Asian share markets made guarded gains on Monday as investors waited anxiously to see if imminent tariffs would go ahead, while bitcoin surged on news it would be included in a new U.S. strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies.
Most Asian currencies firmed slightly on Monday, recouping a measure of recent losses as the dollar retreated before a March 4 deadline for U.S. President Donald Trump to impose more trade tariffs.
Equities slumped in Asia on Friday and the U.S. dollar hovered near multi-week highs against the currencies of the country’s top trading partners as concerns about an escalating global trade war soured market sentiment.
China’s factory activity likely contracted for a second month in February, keeping alive calls for even more stimulus to prop up depressed domestic demand in the world’s second-largest economy as manufacturers brace for fresh U.S. tariffs.
South Korea’s exports are estimated to have risen in February, a Reuters poll showed, but the return to growth was largely due to more working days in the month and economists said the country’s trade momentum was weakening amid a global tariff war.