Brent Crude adds 15 cents in price, Shares dropped in Asian markets

Oil prices up on Wednesday after Russia’s approval of coronavirus vaccine,  rose 0.52% to $44.73 in early morning trade.

According to the details, WTI futures rose 0.38% to $41.77 and Brent crude was up 15 cents, or 0.3%, at $44.65 a barrel.

Latest figures released showed a larger than expected draw in crude inventories for the week to Aug. 7, with an actual draw of 4.4 million barrel versus a 3.2-million-barrel forecast.

Asian Shares

Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Wednesday after Wall Street pumped the brakes on its recent rally.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged higher while the Shanghai Composite sank 2%.

Overnight, a late slide in big technology companies left indexes broadly lower on Wall Street, breaking a seven-day winning streak for the S&P 500.

The Nikkei 225 gained 0.4% to 22,848.24, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.2% lower to 24,845.57.

In South Korea, the Kospi was flat, at 2,418.32.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 66 points to 3,273.75. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.5% to 6,107.20.