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Oil Shares Lift Global Stocks But Crude Dips After OPEC Boost

Global stocks were pulled higher by the oil company rally.
Global stocks were pulled higher by the oil company rally.

London: An agreement by OPEC members to curb output boosted oil company shares on Thursday, lifted the currencies of crude-producing countries, and drove yields on low-risk government debt higher.

Global stocks were pulled higher by the oil company rally.

Oil prices, however, edged off their highs as some investors took profits on Wednesday's more than 5 percent surge, which was prompted by OPEC's first deal to limit output since 2008. Scepticism over how it would be implemented also crept in.

But the surprise agreement boosted investors' appetite for riskier assets and saw the safe-haven yen fall 1 percent against the dollar at one point.

"Everything you're seeing today is a response to the move in crude and the possible coordination necessary for OPEC to do what it has announced. Even though I think the agreement is probably a bit flimsy, the amount of coordination is part of the reason for the rally in risk," said BMO Capital Markets currency strategist Stephen Gallo.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.8 percent in early trade, led higher by a 4.8 percent rise in the oil and gas companies sub-index.

Among leading gainers, Tullow Oil rose 8 percent, Statoil and Royal Dutch Shell and Total added more than 5 percent.

In Russia - a major oil producer - the dollar-denominated RTS share index rose 2.4 percent.

Energy shares led Wall Street higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 index rising 0.5 percent. Oil companies, and the weaker yen, also lifted Tokyo shares, which closed 1.4 percent higher

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.7 percent. The main MSCI emerging market equities index rose 0.6 percent.

However, Indian stocks fell as much as 2 percent at one point after New Delhi launched strikes on militants it suspects of preparing to infiltrate into the part of Kashmir it controls. The Indian rupee fell almost 1 percent against the dollar.

OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, agreed to cut output to a range of 32.5-33.0 million barrels a day from the group's current estimate of 33.24 million barrels, ministers at the talks in Algiers said.

However, each member's output levels will be decided at the next formal OPEC meeting in Vienna in November, when non-OPEC countries such as Russia could also be invited to join the cuts.

Goldman Sachs said the deal could add as much as $10 to oil prices ion the first half of next year but, given the uncertainty of the proposal, stuck to its year-end and 2017 oil price forecasts.

Brent crude, the international benchmark was down 61 cents, 1.3 percent, at $48.08 per barrel, after rising to as high as $49.09 on Wednesday.

"There is a lack of clarity and detail, which is why people are taking profits," said Vivendra Chauhan, oil analyst at Energy Aspects in Singapore.

Oil-producer's currencies, including the Canadian dollar and the Norwegian crown rose on the deal but gave up some of the gains on Thursday in line with oil.

However, the Japanese yen, often sought when investor appetite for risk is low, tumbled against the dollar. It was last down 0.8 percent at 101.43 per dollar, having fallen as low as 100.62.

German 10-year government bond yields, the euro zone benchmark, rose 3 basis points to minus 0.12 percent. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields also rose and were last up 1.5 bps at 1.582 percent.

An inflationary rise in oil prices would rattle investors already nervous that an era of central bank stimulus may be coming to an end.

However, given doubts about the deal, BNP Paribas European rates strategist Patrick Jacques said the upward pressure on bond yields would prove temporary.

"Even if there's a 5 percent rise in oil prices, this will not trigger a strong rebound in inflation and at these levels, oil output is still higher than demand so we're unlikely to see a massive rally in oil," he said.

© Thomson Reuters 2016

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