Asia stocks surge, Europe opens lower after oil prices rise

BEIJING (AP) — Asian markets surged while Europe opened lower Thursday after oil prices recovered some of a decline the day before that had eased inflation fears.

Futures for Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.4% as Russian attacks on Ukraine intensified two weeks as fighting entered its third week.

Markets rallied Wednesday after oil plunged, but economists warned that was due to changes in futures contracts and other factors, not war developments. On Thursday, prices rebounded by nearly $6 per barrel in London and nearly $4 in New York.

Forecasters warned markets will stay volatile, as the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers were meeting in Turkey for negotiations.

“Markets seem to have latched onto a couple of slightly less dismal clues as an excuse to rally hard,” said ING economists in a report. “The basis for that optimism — it’s actually pretty thin.”

In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.6% to 7,146.60 and Frankfurt’s DAX slipped 1.9% to 13,592.84. The CAC 40 tumbled 2% to 6,261.35.

The retreat came as the European Union statistics agency reported that inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro rose by an annual 5.8% in February, a record high for the fourth month in a row.

European economies import more Russian oil and gas and face a bigger potential shock from the war. That might prompt European governments to use more economic stimulus, which pushes up stock prices.

European stocks had rallied Wednesday even more than the U.S. market, with Germany’s DAX jumping 7.9% and France’s CAC 40 soaring 7.1%.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 3.9% Thursday to 25,690.40 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 1.2% to 3,296.09. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 1.3% to 20,890.26.

The Kospi...