- Ten Hag bemoans Man Utd's lack of killer instinct in Palace stalemate
- France's Macron appoints new government in shift to right
- Cheika proud of Leicester grit after winning start as boss
- Profligate Man Utd pay price in 0-0 draw at Palace
- Kane, Olise run riot as Bayern thump Bremen
- Diaz fires Liverpool top of Premier League, Man Utd held at Palace
- LIV champion Rahm out of LIV Team semis with severe flu
- Slot surprised by tearful Nunez's moment of magic
- Title rivals Norris, Verstappen on 'cool' front row for Singapore GP
- Biden talks China with 'Quad' leaders in hometown summit
- Juve and Napoli play out goalless draw in early Serie A title tussle
- Alcaraz fears tennis tour grind will 'kill us'
- Carey sparks recovery as Australia thrash England in 2nd ODI
- Leclerc, Sainz lament 'disappointing' Saturday in Singapore
- Bottega Veneta holds investors' aces as Madonna pops into D&G
- Beirut digs for victims at building flattened in Israeli strike
- Verstappen stages protest over 'ridiculous' swearing punishment
- Bayern boss Kompany lauds 'special talent' Olise
- Diaz fires Liverpool top of Premier League, Spurs bounce back
- Heavy fire over Israel-Lebanon border after deadly Beirut strike
- Ramos guides unbeaten Toulouse to Montpellier win despite Hogg scuffle
- Myanmar flood death toll jumps to 384
- Chelsea owners 'happy' with win at West Ham amid rift report
- Kane and Olise run riot as Bayern thump Bremen
- Ramos guides unbeaten Toulouse to Montpellier win
- Norris pips Verstappen to dramatic Singapore pole after Sainz crash
- Carey takes Australia to 270 in 2nd ODI against England after collapse
- Two Hezbollah leaders killed in Israel's Beirut strike
- Hungary Danube waters reach decade high after Storm Boris
- Bagnaia cuts Martin's MotoGP lead with Emilia-Romagna sprint win
- Jackson double fires Chelsea to victory at woeful West Ham
- Fiji beat Japan to lift Pacific Nations Cup
- Kasatkina to face Haddad Maia in Korea Open final
- S.Africa snowfall closes roads, strands motorists overnight
- Lawyers of women alleging Al-Fayed sex abuse receive over 150 new enquiries
- President Museveni's son backs Ugandan strongman for 7th term
- Norris quickest as Verstappen bounces back in Singapore practice
- Wallabies lament All Blacks' fast start
- Germany's Oktoberfest opens under tight security after attacks
- Environmental protesters block French cruise liner port
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli strike kills top commanders
- No place like home: Biden hosts 'Quad' leaders
- One dead, 7 missing as heavy rains trigger floods in central Japan
- Zelensky says no UK, US go-ahead to use long-range missiles
- New Zealand edge Australia 31-28 in Bledisloe Cup thriller
- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
Asian markets rally fades, oil extends gains with focus on Ukraine
Asian equities were mixed Wednesday as three days of painful losses gave way to a semblance of stability, though oil prices extended gains after the United States and Britain moved to ban imports of Russian crude.
But while the panic selling that characterised markets for two weeks eased, analysts warned of further volatility as Russia showed no sign of letting up on its invasion of Ukraine.
The crisis has fuelled fears that the fragile global recovery from Covid-19 will be replaced by a period of stagflation, in which inflation surges and economies flatline or contract.
A crucial driver of equity selling has been rocketing commodities prices.
Crude is the main worry as the removal of Russia's output will compound an already tight market. Russia is the world's third-biggest oil producer.
Wheat and metals including nickel have already hit record highs.
Warnings that US President Joe Biden would put an embargo on imports from Russia sent Brent prices soaring to as high as $139 Monday -- about $8 short of a 2008 record -- before they retreated.
However, confirmation of the ban Tuesday, and news that Britain would join by the end of the year, sent the black gold roaring up again.
EU nations, which receive roughly 40 percent of their gas imports and one quarter of their oil from Russia, instead opted to set a goal of cutting their Russian gas imports by two-thirds.
In Wednesday trade Brent was sitting at around $130, while WTI was hovering around $125.
Biden's announcement on oil also shot a hole in a rally on Wall Street, with all three main indexes ending in the red.
Asia squeezed out some gains in the morning but traders struggled to maintain momentum.
Sydney, Mumbai, Singapore, Taipei, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok and Wellington rose but Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai fell.
The oil ban is the latest volley at Russia, which has been hit with a series of wide-ranging and strict sanctions that have crippled the economy, and led numerous firms to exit with giants McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Starbucks the latest.
Fitch has warn Moscow is on the verge of its first sovereign debt default since 1998.
- Gold edges towards record -
There was a little support from comments by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who in an apparent nod to Moscow said he was no longer pressing for NATO membership.
He also said he was open to "compromise" on the status of two breakaway pro-Russian territories that Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent just before unleashing the invasion.
Putin has demanded Kyiv give up its desire to join NATO and recognise the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk.
"Markets remain volatile, unable to confidently price implications from the news flow given the complex state of the global economy," said National Australia Bank's Rodrigo Catril.
"Signs of a potential compromise coming from Ukraine's president are now confronted with the reality that even if a compromise is reached, consequences from sanctions are adding another layer to supply constraint issues, logistics and many tight commodity markets, including oil, nickel, gas and so on."
Safe-haven gold is closing in on a record high as investors rush for a hedge against soaring inflation. The yellow metal rose as high as $2,069.25 Tuesday before easing slightly.
Adding to the upward pressure was news that a cross-party group of US senators had put forward a bill to impose secondary sanctions on anyone buying or selling Russian gold, a move aimed at preventing Moscow liquidating its holdings to support the collapsing ruble.
Gold was already rising in recent weeks as inflation roared to a 40-year high in the United States, forcing the Federal Reserve to start lifting interest rates, which had been acting as a dampener on world markets.
And commentators still expect rates to rise despite the economic hit from the Ukraine war.
"The Fed doesn't seem to be getting a break in terms of the inflation problem that they are trying to solve by raising these rates, so it doesn't look likely that we'll see a less aggressive Fed over the next year or so," JoAnne Feeney, of Advisors Capital Management, told Bloomberg Television.
- Key figures around 0610 GMT -
Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.7 percent at $130.11 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.3 percent at $125.35
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 24,717.53 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 2.8 percent at 20,186.67
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 2.7 percent at 3,205.46 (close)
Dollar/yen: UP at 115.79 yen from 115.69 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0916 from $1.0895
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3114 from $1.3096
Euro/pound: UP at 83.26 pence from 83.17 pence
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 32,632.64 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 6,964.11 (close)
C.Meier--BTB