European and US stocks rise but euro hits 5-year…

European and US stocks rise but euro hits 5-year dollar low

Russia is turning off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. ©AFP

London (AFP) - European and US stock markets rose Wednesday after recent sharp losses, but the euro struck a five-year low against the dollar as traders weighed widespread economic unrest.

Meanwhile, Europe's Dutch TTF gas price bounded higher after Russia's energy giant Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland, but remained well below levels hit last month.

The two EU member nations had failed to pay in rubles despite President Vladimir Putin announcing that Russia would no longer accept payments in other currencies -- a retaliation for the West's economic sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Traders on Wednesday were unpicking "the familiar concerns about tech earnings, inflation, interest rates, China's lockdown...and the war in Ukraine", said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.

In afternoon trading, London was up 0.5 percent, while both Paris and Frankfurt edged 0.2 percent higher.

On Wall Street, the main indices pushed modestly higher after sharp losses Tuesday.

Tech firms, who rely on debt to drive growth, led Wall Street's plunge on fears that the Federal Reserve is at the beginning of a period of sharp interest-rate increases aimed at taming scorching inflation, with the Nasdaq Composite tumbling four percent.

It pushed 0.4 percent higher, as did the S&P 500, while the Dow rose 0.5 percent.

Patrick J. O'Hare said that "the major indices are trading higher this morning, although it is unclear if they are higher because the indices have been taking a beating of late or if they are higher because of some relief following the latest batch of earnings results".

The downbeat mood over the economy has been compounded by weak earnings from some of the world's biggest companies.

The euro dropped under $1.06 to record its lowest level since January 2017.Analyst Wilson said the "market clearly believes the Fed is going to town on rate hikes and the ECB is going to sit on its hands and do nothing".

Asian stock markets earlier closed lower but suffered losses less sharp than seen Tuesday on Wall Street.

In contrast however, Shanghai bounced on Wednesday following a report that Chinese President Xi Jinping had committed to boosting infrastructure construction as a means of accelerating the economy.

The comments were the latest from China's top brass, which has made a series of promises in recent weeks to kickstart growth.

However, analysts say this has been offset by the leaders' refusal to back away from their strict Covid lockdown strategy.

Oil prices -- under pressure recently owing to worries about weaker Chinese demand -- fell again back towards $100 per barrel.