BANGKOK—World shares were mixed on Friday as investors watched developments in the Ukraine after the U.S. warned of a high risk of a Russian invasion.
Benchmarks rose in London, Paris, and Shanghai but fell in Hong Kong and Tokyo. Oil prices fell and U.S. futures were higher.
The U.S. has issued some of its starkest, most detailed warnings yet about how a Russian invasion of Ukraine might unfold, and its Western allies went on high alert for any attempts by the Kremlin to create a false pretext for a new war in Europe.
Russia is thought to have some 150,000 military forces near Ukraine’s borders and NATO allies have questioned Moscow’s assertions it was pulling back troops from exercises that had fueled fears of an attack.
The crisis has hung over markets for weeks, raising volatility. Russia is a major energy producer and if it were to invade Ukraine, other governments could respond with economic sanctions that would disrupt energy supplies.
“We’ll likely enter the weekend with more questions than answers on the Russia-Ukraine tensions, with the diplomatic game set to extend well into next week and likely beyond,” Francesco Pesole of ING said in a commentary.
Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent on Friday to 7,559.56. Germany’s DAX was up 0.3 percent, at 15,308.32 and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6 percent to 6,991.04. On Wall Street, the future for the S&P 500 jumped 0.7 percent while the Dow future added 0.6 percent.
Japan reported Friday that its core inflation rate, excluding volatile energy and food costs, rose 0.2 percent in January, way below the decades-high figures seen in most major economies and far short of the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.4 percent to 27,122.07, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up 1.9 percent to 24,327.71. The Kospi in Seoul was almost unchanged at 2,744.52. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1 percent to 7,221.70.
The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.7 percent to 3,490.76.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 2.1 percent, its biggest drop in two weeks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.8 percent and the Nasdaq composite slid 2.9 percent. The losses wiped out the major indexes’ weekly gains.
Bond yields fell and dragged banks lower. By early Friday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 1.98 percent, down from 2.04 percent late Wednesday.
The tensions over Ukraine add to investors’ jitters over the Federal Reserve’s plan to raise interest rates to fight doggedly rising inflation, which has spiked to a 40-year high.
Companies have been dealing with supply chain problems and higher costs by raising prices on finished goods for consumers. Many have also warned investors that inflation will sap their profits, sales, and overall operations.
In other trading Friday, U.S. benchmark crude lost 65 cents to $91.11 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 2 percent on Thursday, while the price of natural gas fell 4.9 percent.
Brent crude, the international pricing standard, lost 57 cents to $92.40 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 115.19 Japanese yen from 114.93 yen. The euro rose to $1.1378 from $1.1365.
