The Australian share market posted slight losses on Friday, while Wall Street posted its worst quarter since the COVID-19 pandemic struck and oil prices fell sharply.
The ASX 200 closed 0.1 per lower at 7,494 points, after trading flat for much of the day. Despite the loss, the benchmark index recorded strong gains in the past few days, notching a 1.2 per cent gain this week.
By 4:30pm AEDT, the Australian dollar was marginally weaker at 74.8 US cents.
Brent crude futures dropped 0.4 per cent to $US104.20 a barrel (on top of their 4.9 per cent slump overnight).
US West Texas Intermediate crude declined by 0.7 per cent to $US99.50 a barrel (adding to its 7 per cent plunge overnight).
It comes as US President Joe Biden announced the largest-ever release from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve and called on oil companies to increase drilling to boost supply.
Despite the price falls, crude oil prices are still around 40 per cent higher since the year began.
The global economy's quicker-than-expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine were major contributors to the recent spike in oil prices.
Investors remained cautious as they monitored developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, while gains in miners partially offset some losses.
Several of today's best performers on the ASX were lithium stocks, including Allkem (+8.5pc), Pilbara Minerals (+7.2pc), Novonix (+3.4pc) and Liontown Resources (+3.5pc).
At the other end of the spectrum, shares in Perseus Mining (-5.4pc), Polynovo (-4.1pc), IDP Education (-4.8pc) and Magellan Financial (-3.7pc) fell heavily.
Moment of 'peril' spurs Biden to release more oil
Mr Biden said starting in May, the United States would release 1 million barrels per day (BPD) of crude oil for six months from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
He also said 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil could be released by allies and partners to offset lost Russian exports following that nation being hit with heavy sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.
"This is a moment of consequence and peril for the world, and pain at the pump for American families,” Mr Biden said at an event at the White House on Thursday (local time).
"It's also a moment of patriotism," the US President said, as he asked oil company executives to serve their customers and American families, instead of the investors they had rewarded with billions of dollars in dividends.
"We need to increase supply … Oil firms sitting on idle wells or unused leases will have to start producing or pay for their inaction" he added.
Mr Biden's 180-million-barrel release is equivalent to about two days of global demand, and marks the third time Washington has tapped the SPR in the past six months.
"This is a market where every barrel counts and [the SPR release] is a significant volume of oil to be put on the market for an extended period of time," John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, said.
However, any SPR release could also be a sign that Washington did not expect a quick resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which had squeezed oil supplies, said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia (known as OPEC+), agreed at a meeting on Thursday (local time) to stick to its existing agreement and raise its May production target by 432,000 barrels per day.
"In the light of the overnight developments, the OPEC+ decision seems to be a non-event," said Tamas Varga at PVM Oil Associates.
"The increase of 432,000 BPD has been expected and built into the price. The decision will be greeted with disappointment from consuming nations."
RBA appoints Bullock as deputy governor
The Australian government has named Michele Bullock as the new deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, the first woman in its 62-year history, for a five-year term.
Ms Bullock is currently an assistant governor at the RBA responsible for the bank's financial stability and has an oversight of the payments system.
She will replace Guy Debelle, who resigned from the central bank early in March to take up a new role in the private sector.
From June, Dr Debelle will be the chief financial office of Fortescue Future Industries. It is a green energy group founded by Australia's richest man, billionaire miner Andrew Forrest.
Ms Bullock joined the central bank straight out of university in 1985 and has served in the economic and international units, business services and currency departments.
In her new role, she will sit on the nine-member policy making Board of the RBA which sets interest rates. The next monthly meeting is due on April 5 when analysts assume rates will be kept at a record low of 0.1 per cent.
RBA Governor Philip Lowe has said it was plausible a hike could come later this year as the economy is growing strongly and inflation is accelerating sharply.
Lowe's seven-year term as governor ends next year and he has said he would be happy to take a second term if the government offers it.
Worst quarter for US and European stocks since 2020
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones index closed 1.6 per cent lower at 34,678 points on Thursday (local time). The S&P 500 fell 1.6 per cent to 4,530, while the Nasdaq Composite sank 1.5 per cent to 14,221.
European markets also fared poorly overnight, particularly Britain's FTSE (-0.8pc), Germany's DAX (-1.3pc) and the STOXX 600 (-0.9pc).
The surging cost of living in Australia and other advanced economies have sealed expectations that central banks will raise interest rates quickly.
Investors worry that aggressive tightening in the United States and other countries will increase the risk of another recession.
US markets experienced their worst quarterly performance in two years (the last time was when the coronavirus pandemic first struck in 2020).
In the March quarter, the Dow and S&P lost 4.6 and 4.9 per cent, respectively. The Nasdaq dropped 9 per cent during that period.
Europe's STOXX 600 fared worse, losing 6.5 per cent in the March quarter, also its biggest quarterly drop since the start of 2020.
ABC/Reuters
