Russia says it will sell gas to some countries in roubles, and Australian shares have edged higher helped by a new surge in oil prices.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would seek payment in roubles for gas sales to "unfriendly" countries in response to the Western sanctions crippling Russia's economy.
The world's commodity trade is usually conducted in US dollars.
The Russian President's plan would further disrupt commodity markets.
At a televised meeting with government ministers, Mr Putin said Russia would continue to supply natural gas in line with existing contracts.
Moscow has drawn up a list of unfriendly countries which includes the United States, European Union members, Britain and Japan.
Russian state oil giant Gazprom has been tasked with modifying contracts.
The news saw European gas prices soar as Russia supplies around 40 per cent of Europe's gas.
Whether European nations will pay for gas in roubles is another question.
Germany said the shift to roubles was a breach of contract, while Italy said it would likely continue payments in euros.
Mr Putin's announcement also saw the rouble jumped to a one-month high against the greenback, to 87.50 US cents.
Nickel prices jumped 15 per cent, to $US32,380 a tonne, and other industrial metals also increased because of disruptions from the conflict and higher energy prices.
Nickel prices continue to be volatile after the price jumped to $US100,000 earlier this month.
Russia facing new sanctions
As Russia bombed the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Western leaders gathered in Brussels to plan more measures to force Russia to end its war in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden and his European counterparts will announce new sanctions against Russia.
They will also discuss whether to impose further energy sanctions on Russia, and whether the US can supply LNG and hydrogen to Europe to replace Russian gas.
Several nations have banned the import of Russian oil, including the US, the UK and Australia.
Russian bank chief offered to quit
Bloomberg has reported that Russian central bank governor Elivra Nabiullina sought to resign after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But Mr Putin reportedly rejected the resignation and she was nominated for a new five-year term last week.
The Russian central bank's press office told Russian state media the report "doesn't correspond to reality".
Ms Nabiullina is highly regarded by investors as one of the world's best monetary policymakers.
Oil prices rise
Oil prices jumped more than 5 per cent due to sanctions on Russia threatening fuel shortages and disrupting the oil market.
There also weather related disruptions to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline on the Black Sea, which transports Russian and Kazakh crude oil exports.
Russia is the world's biggest oil exporter and supplies nearly half of Europe's energy.
Brent crude rose 5.4 per cent, to $US121.57 a barrel, while West Texas crude oil rose 5 per cent, to $US114.57 a barrel overnight.
Brent crude neared its record high earlier this month because of the war. And local petrol prices are at record highs, driving inflation.
Spot gold put on 1.3 per cent, to $US19445.42 an ounce.
Oil prices edged lower in Asian trade, with Brent crude down 0.5 per cent to $US120.96 a barrel at 4:15pm AEDT.
Spot gold fell 0.2 per cent to $US1,939.68 an ounce in afternoon trade.
The Australian dollar gained on the rise in commodity prices, to just above 75 US cents overnight, a four-month high.
It fell 0.2 per cent to 74.82 US cents at 4:30pm AEDT.
The world's biggest bond investor, PIMCO, said the war had "cast an even thicker layer of uncertainty" on the already uncertain economic outlook.
ASX edges higher
The Australian market opened lower but turned positive during the day, helped by stronger energy stocks and miners.
By the close, the All Ordinaries index rose 0.05 per cent to 7,669, and the ASX 200 lifted 0.1 per cent to 7,387.
Utilities, energy firms, miners and consumer staples gained, but financial firms, healthcare and technology stocks weighed on the market.
Crown Perth 'unsuitable' to hold gaming licence
Crown Resorts was found to be unsuitable to hold a casino licence in Perth by the Perth Casino Royal Commission because it facilitated money laundering and criminal activity.
However, the commission did not recommend that Crown be stripped of its casino licence. Instead, an independent manager will be appointed to oversee all of its operations comply with regulations.
That move boosted Crown (+0.2pc) shares.
Crown said it would review the report and would work co-operatively and constructively with the Western Australian government.
Crown chief executive Steve McCann said the company was committed to continuous improvement across all its resorts, including Crown Perth.
Crown has replaced most of its board and management over the past year as it seeks to hold onto its gaming licences.
Westpac cuts mortgage rates
Westpac is the latest of the big four banks to reduce standard variable home loan rates.
Westpac cut its variable rate by 0.1 per cent, to 2.09 per cent, for people with a 30 per cent deposit, making it the lowest variable rate of the big four.
RateCity said St George and the Bank of Melbourne were offering a 2.04 per cent rate for borrowers with a 40 per cent deposit.
Fixed home loan rates have continued to rise because of increasing borrowing costs
Westpac lifted its one- to five-year rates for owner occupiers and investors by up to 0.3 per cent.
It raised its three-year fixed rate from 3.44 per cent to 3.74 per cent, increasing the repayment on a $500,000 loan by $84 a month.
The rate was 1.88 per cent a year ago.
ANZ digital currency
ANZ has carried out the first payment by an Australian bank-issued $A stablecoin through a blockchain transaction.
This A$DC payment was made by investment firm Victor Smorgon Group, through its stake in the Zerocap platform, which invests in digital and technology assets like cryptocurrency.
The investment firm did not have to convert Australian dollars to US dollars to do the transaction.
Zerocap said $30 million A$DC was transferred from ANZ to Zerocap "in seconds".
A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency with a value linked to a commodity, currency or algorithm to manage supply.
The Reserve Bank is looking at issuing a central bank digital coin.
ANZ head of banking services Nigel Dobson said the bank-issued stablecoin was a first and important step to enable customers to safely and securely use digital transactions.
ANZ also launched a new digital banking service called ANZ Plus.
Bitcoin rose 1.4 per cent to $US42,976 at 4:45pm AEDT.
NAB buyback
National Australia Bank has completed a $2.5 billion buyback of its shares and announced a further buyback of up to another $2.5 billion.
The bank expects to commence the further buyback following the release of its half-year results on May 5.
NAB shares increased 0.2 per cent, Westpac rose 0.4 per cent, but ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank ended lower.
Winners and losers
The best-performing stocks were Whitehaven Coal (+6.5pc), brickmaker Brickworks (+5pc), and JB Hifi (+4.4pc), while the laggards were buy-now, pay-later firm Zip (-5.1pc), and healthcare stocks Polynovo (-4.3pc) and Healius (-4.2pc).
Brickworks reported a record net profit of $581 million, with demand for building products driving the result.
The electronics retailer JB Hifi said increased customer demand and strong sales growth drove an 11 per cent rise in sales over the first few months of the year.
Telecommunications firm Uniti Group (-0.6pc) lost ground, despite confirming it had received a higher takeover bid from Macquarie Group and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
Investment house Washington H. Soul Pattinson (+1.3pc) made a net loss of $643 million for the first half of 2022, compared to a profit the year earlier.
It said profit before one-offs rose nearly four fold to $343.7 million thanks to higher revenue.
Wall Street ends lower
US stocks were hit by the rally in oil prices and finished lower.
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones index fell 1.3 per cent, to 34,359, the S&P 500 lost 1.2 per cent, to 4,456 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.3 per cent, to 13,923.
Computer software firm Adobe lost 10 per cent after it forecast lower second-quarter revenue.
Technology stocks such as Tesla and Apple gained.
Video game retailer Gamestop jumped after chairman Ryan Cohen's investment company bought 100,000 shares.
UK inflation surges
Prices in the United Kingdom surged to a new 30-year high of 6.2 per cent — more than expected.
A budget update and a cut in petrol tax by Finance Minister Rishi Sunak failed to soothe investors nerves.
In London, the FTSE 100 lost 0.2 per cent, to 7,461, the DAX in Germany fell 1.3 per cent, to 14,284, and the CAC 40 fell 1.2 per cent, to 6,581.
ABC/Reuters
