Asia-Pacific stocks mostly rise as oil prices continue jumping

Japan +0.80%. Japan February services PMI 44.2 (prior 42.7).

China -0.22%. China February services PMI 50.2 (expected 50.7 prior 51.4)

Hong Kong +0.35%.

Australia +0.49%. Australian January building approvals collaped down 27.9% m/m vs down 3% expected. January was +8.2%.

Australian trade data for January: exports +8% m/m while imports -2% m/m.

Australian February services PMI 57.4 (January was 46.6).

Australian construction PMI 53.4 in February (prior 45.9).

India +0.27%.

Overnight on Wall Street, Dow Jones surged 596.40 points to 33,891.35, S&P 500 gained 1.86% to 4,386.54, while Nasdaq advanced 1.62% to 13,752.02.

New Zealand - ANZ Commodity Price index for February: +3.9% m/m (prior +1%).

Response to the invasion of Ukraine: The new round of sanctions announced by the White House ban the export of specific refining technologies, making it harder for Russia to modernize its oil refineries.

Russia is to be deleted from all FTSE equity indexes- Bloomberg.

The World Bank has stopped all of its programs in Russia and Belarus.

Ukrainian news: Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, suffered heavy bombardment on Wednesday as Russia’s week-long invasion was denounced by the United Nations in a historic vote.

498 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine/1597 soldiers have been wounded.

Oil prices extended their rally on Thursday, with Brent rising above $116 a barrel, as trade disruption and shipping issues from Russian sanctions over the Ukraine crisis sparked supply worries while U.S. crude stocks fell to multi-year lows.

Brent crude futures rallied to $116.83 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $113.01 a barrel, up $2.41.

Gold prices were flat on Thursday as risk appetite improved after the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman tried to assuage fears about aggressive interest rate hikes, offsetting safe-haven demand spurred by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Spot gold held its ground at $1,927.18 per ounce by 0117 GMT. U.S. gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,929.90.

Palladium, used by automakers in catalytic converters to curb emissions, slipped 1.3% to $2,633.65.

Spot silver fell 0.4% to $25.14 per ounce, while platinum shed 0.4% to $1,067.00.

U.S. futures higher. Dow Jones +0.16%; S&P 500 +0.15%; Nasdaq +0.05%.