Oil price rise impacts markets

Tokyo, London, and New York markets all closed lower overall Monday, despite gains in most oil stocks in all three markets, as the price of a barrel of crude oil rose above $58 dollars for the first time.

The gains in those stocks were generally offset by losses caused by worries about the impact of rising oil prices on profits, especially in Western markets.

As one example, in New York, shares of Best Buy, the electronics retailer, fell due to fears that rises in oil prices might hurt sales.

In Tokyo, energy stock gains were offset by profit-taking on domestic stocks, with Nippon Oil, AOC Holdings, and Japan Petroleum were all up substantially. Export-dependent companies also tended to close higher in Tokyo, with Honda, Hitachi, and Fuji Photo Film all were up.

In New York, Unocal and ChevronTexaco bucked the general trend and were both lower as Unocal agreed to a takeover by ChevronTexaco; shares of both companies were lower after no counterbid was made.

In London, Burren Energy, BP, and Shell were all higher, as were Tullow Oil and Paladin Resources.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Oil price rise impacts markets