Oil prices surge as Trump orders blockade of Venezuelan tankers

Equities mostly rose on Wednesday, even as US jobs data did little to boost expectations for another interest rate cut next month, while oil rallied after President Donald Trump ordered the blockade of “sanctioned” Venezuelan tankers.

With Federal Reserve officials indicating they were unlikely to lower borrowing costs for a fourth successive meeting, sentiment on trading floors has been subdued of late, compounded by worries over tech valuations and AI spending.

Focus had been on the delayed release of key non-farm payrolls reports, which showed on Tuesday that the unemployment rate had jumped to a four-year high of 4.6 percent in November, reinforcing views that the US labour market was slowing.

However, a forecast-beating 105,000 drop in jobs in October was blamed on the extended government shutdown — with many expected to return — while November’s rise of 64,000 was more than estimated.

Analysts said the figures did little to move the dial on rate-cut bets, with Bloomberg saying markets had priced in about a 20 per cent chance of such a move next month.

“The bleed higher in the unemployment rate plays to the (Fed policy board’s) concern about the labour market, which has supported the adjustment over the past three meetings,” wrote National Australia Bank senior economist Taylor Nugent.

“But it is unlikely to be enough to push them to further near-term easing,” he added. “It would take another jump (in unemployment) next month to shift things much on a January cut.”

Wall Street investors largely shrugged at the data, with many concerned that the tech-led rally over the past two years may have gone too far and that the vast sums invested in AI might not see returns as soon as hoped.

Asian markets, having dropped at the start of the week, struggled early on Wednesday, but some managed to dig out gains.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, Manila, Bangkok, and Jakarta rose, but Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Mumbai, and Wellington fell.

London rose as data showed UK inflation slowed at a faster pace than expected in November, while Paris and Frankfurt also edged up.

Oil prices jumped more than one per cent after Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he was “ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela”.

The announcement sharply escalates his campaign against the country — while issuing new demands for Venezuelan crude — after months of building military forces in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking in Latin America.

Caracas views the operation as a pressure campaign to oust leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro, whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president.

The gains pared some of the 2.7 per cent in losses suffered Tuesday after the US president said a deal to end the war in Ukraine was closer than ever.

An end to the war could ease sanctions on Russian oil, adding to oversupply concerns already weighing on the market.

On currency markets, the yen strengthened further against the dollar following the US jobs data and days before the Bank of Japan is expected to hike interest rates to a 30-year high on Friday.

And the Indian rupee surged one per cent following the central bank’s intervention to provide support a day after the unit hit a new record low against the dollar.

The rupee has been hammered this year — making it Asia’s worst forex performer — on worries about the delay in striking a trade deal with the United States as well as a current account deficit and foreign outflows.

It strengthened to 89.9662 to the greenback, from more than 91 earlier in the day.

In corporate news, Chinese chipmaker MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai soared more than 550 percent on its home city debut Wednesday, having raised $585.8 million in an initial public offering.

The jump comes after semiconductor company Moore Threads also rocketed more than 500 percent on its first day earlier in the month, having taken $1.1 billion in its IPO.

Shares in Hong Kong’s biggest licensed cryptocurrency exchange, HashKey, retreated around two per cent on their first day of trading, following an IPO that brought in $205 million.

– Key figures –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 per cent at 49,512.28 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.9 per cent at 25,468.78 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.2 per cent at 3,870.28 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.8 per cent at 9,759.85

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.50 yen from 154.80 on Tuesday

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1712 from $1.1747

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3324 from $1.3422

Euro/pound: UP at 87.92 pence from 87.52

West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.6 per cent at $56.13 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 per cent at $59.81 per barrel

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 per cent at 48,114.26 (close)