Closing post
Time to wrap up….
Canada’s central bank has warned that the conflict in the Middle East has increased volatility in global energy prices and financial markets, and “heightened the risks to the global economy”.
The warning came as Iran threatened to attack energy infrastructure across the Gulf region in retaliation for Israeli strikes on its largest gasfield, marking the first targeted attacks on its fossil fuel production since the war began.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have threatened counterstrikes on several energy facilities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar “in the coming hours” after state media reports that missiles had targeted its gas facilities at the giant South Pars field, the largest gas reserves in the world.
The strikes on Iran’s South Pars gasfield, which it shares with Qatar, were widely reported in Israeli media to have been carried out by Israel with the consent of the US.
The attack against the heart of Iran’s gas infrastructure marks a key escalation in US and Israeli military operations. The two countries have until now largely spared Iran’s oil and gas sector and helped to keep a lid on the global oil price surge.
The oil price climbed towards $110 a barrel on Wednesday afternoon as the mounting threat to the Gulf’s oil and gas infrastructure fuelled concerns over more disruption to global supplies, amid the continuing blockade of the strait of Hormuz.
This latest escalation of tensions hit stocks in Europe, where London’s main share index fell almost 1%, and on Wall Street where the DJIA is down 0.9% now.
Investors were also rattled by data showing that US goods and services producers hiked their prices faster than expected in February. That could show inflationary pressures were bubbling up even before this month’s spike in fuel prices.
A government led by the Green party would not set targets for GDP growth but would instead focus on people’s mental health, social cohesion and community welfare, Zack Polanski has said in a major speech to set out his plans for the economy.
In other news:
FTSE 100 closes down almost 1%
After a choppy day’s trading, London’s stock market has just closed in the red.
The FTSE 100 share index lost 98 points, or 0.94%, to close at 10,305 points, as anxiety over events in the Middle East hit stocks. Precious metals producers were among the fallers, reflecting the drop in the gold price today.
The FTSE 250 index of medium-sized firms has lost 0.44%.
