Oil and gas on the rise as Asian markets close their worst month since 2022

Published at: 26/03/2026 10:07 AM

This Thursday, global stock markets registered widespread declines, after a month of the conflict in the Middle East with no clear signs of a ceasefire. The price of crude oil experienced a significant rebound, with the Brent barrel exceeding 106 dollars and European natural gas rising by more than 3%, standing at 54.5 euros per megawatt hour.

The impact was strongly felt in Asian markets, where the Asia-Pacific stock index closed its worst month since October 2022 with a cumulative decline of 9.5%. During the day, Hong Kong's Hang Seng led the losses with a decline of 1.9%, followed by leading stocks in China and Japanese Nikkei.

This negative trend spread to Wall Street, whose futures anticipated a downward opening in line with global nervousness.

In the foreign exchange and commodity markets, the dollar held firm near its recent highs, projecting monthly growth of 2%. For its part, gold stood at 4,421 dollars per ounce; despite a slight daily drop of 2%, the precious metal maintains a year-on-year revaluation of close to 50%.

This scenario reflects the caution of investors in the face of a macroeconomic environment marked by energy volatility and geopolitical instability.

Mazo News Team