In Asian Equity Markets stocks were volatile on Thursday and oil prices turned lower as the latest developments in the Ukraine war and more hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials left investors uneasy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recouped some of its earlier losses to be off 0.34 percent, on the day, with Chinese stocks leading the declines. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 percent while the mainland’s blue-chip index slid 0.6 percent. Japan’s Nikkei, however, reversed losses to gain 0.25 percent and end the session at a nine-week high.

In Currency Markets the dollar was up on Thursday morning in Asia, finding some support as commodity currencies took a breather from their recent steep rally. However, a struggling Japanese yen from a recovery in the U.S. bond market. The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies edged up 0.18 percent to 98.790. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar inched up 0.07 percent to 121.23. The Aussie dollar edge down 0.19 percent to $0.7483. The kiwi edged down 0.2 percent to $0.6959. Sterling inched down 0.09 percent to $1.3191.

In US Equity Markets all three major U.S. stock indexes ended more than 1 percent lower on Wednesday as oil prices jumped, and Western leaders began gathering in Brussels to plan more measures to pressure Russia to halt its conflict in Ukraine. The Dow fell 1.29 percent, to 34,358.5, the S&P 500 lost 1.23 percent, to 4,456.24 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.32 percent, to 13,922.60. Alphabet-owned Google said it will pause all ads containing content that exploits, dismisses or condones the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Its stock fell 1.1 percent.

In Commodities Markets oil prices jumped 5 percent to over $121 a barrel on Wednesday as disruptions to Russian and Kazakh crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline added to worries over tight global supplies. Brent crude futures settled up 5.3 percent, to $121.60, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 5.2 percent, to $114.93 a barrel. Spot gold rose 0.8 percent to $1,937.52 per ounce. Spot silver rose 1.2 percent to $25.05 per ounce, platinum fell 0.6 percent to $1,017.15, and palladium rose 1.4 percent to $2,518.30.

In European Equity Markets stocks fell on Wednesday, reversing course after hitting one-month highs earlier in the session as a jump in oil prices added to lingering concerns over the economic impact of the Ukraine crisis and as traders took profits. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 1.0 percent, breaking its five day winning streak, with financial stocks leading losses. Spain’s IBEX fell 1.9 percent, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 declined 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent. Banks fell 2.1 percent, led by a 9.0 percent decrease in Sweden-based Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB as it traded ex-dividend.

In Bond Markets a sharp sell-off in U.S. Treasuries eased on Wednesday as the market tries to come to grips with how the Fed might address rising inflation without hiking interest rates at such a clip it spins the economy into recession. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell 2 basis points to 2.357 percent, while the gap between yields on two- and 10-year notes was at 21.9 basis points after collapsing to 13.5 on Tuesday. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield was down 2 basis points at 2.134 percent. The breakeven rate on five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was last at 3.538 percent.