A Massacre in Asia Stocks, Dow Futures Plunge 1,200pts as Fear over Price War Sparks

Asia stock markets all plunged in the morning session on the morning of March 9, 2020, after OPEC failed to reach an agreement with Russia to cut oil production on last Friday which caused a plummet in oil prices by 9% on Friday and as much as 30% this morning.

 

Nikkei plunged 5.70%, SSEC dipped 1.84%, HSI lost 3.93%, ASX 200 tanked 5.97% and Kospi fell 3.85%.

The U.S. Dow Jones Future lost nearly 1,200 points, while the other two indexes were also set to report a significant decline in Monday’s session as well.

In the early morning session, Brent Future plunged 30% to $31.02/bbl, the lowest level since February 2016. Meanwhile, WTI slumped 27% to $30/bbl, the lowest level since February 2016 as well.

 

After the retreat of Russia last Friday, Saudi Arabia announced to pump its oil production the next day, raising concerns to the market for price war.

 

Goldman Sachs cut its second and third quarter Brent forecast to $30 per barrel, while stating that prices could fall into the $20s.

However, some analysts still hoped that OPEC and Russia will be able to seal the deal before the current agreement ends which is by the end of this month.