Global markets surge after Osama pronounced dead
May 02 (NDTV) New Delhi: Global markets surged after US President Barack Obama announced late Sunday that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda is dead. Obama said Laden who was responsible for the September 11 attacks, was killed in a firefight during an operation he ordered Sunday inside Pakistan.
The US futures showed a spike post the news of Osama’s death. At noon, the Dow futures were trading 102 points higher or 0.8 per cent to 12,858. NASDAQ futures were trading 0.8 per cent higher at 2,420.
Asian markets also moved up, with the Nikkei in Japan breaking the psychological 10,000 mark for some time since the Tsunami. The Nikkei was trading 154 points higher (1.57 per cent) at 10,004. South Korea’s Kospi was trading 1.67 per cent higher.
The Indian markets, however, were flat to negative. At noon, the Sensex was trading 33 points lower at 19,102 and the Nifty declined 16 points to 5,733.
Manishi Raychaudhuri, Strategist & Head-Research at BNP Paribas Securities said, “Osama’s death is a very important event, not so much for the equity markets but if you look at the commodity markets. Like in the oil prices, that impact was there to be seen early in the morning when crude was down 1-1.5 per cent indicating that investors could be willing to take more risks as far as emerging markets are concerned.”
Oil prices eased off two-and-a-half-year highs to below $113 a barrel Monday after President Barack Obama announced that al-Qaida leader Osama bid Laden had been killed.
The contract rose $1.07 to settle at $113.93 on Friday and reached $114.18 during in the session, the highest since September 2008.
In London, Brent crude for June delivery was down 98 cents to $124.91 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Laden’s killing has ended a 10-year manhunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist. American officials are in possession of Laden’s body, Obama said.