Asian markets: China Shanghai Composite slips despite oil prices stabilising after Kuwait strike

Asian markets: China Shanghai Composite slips despite oil prices stabilizing after Kuwait strike — Barring China, Asian stock markets were trading higher on 19 April, 2016 Reuters

While the majority of Asian stock market indices were trading higher on Tuesday, 19 April, China's Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.13% at 3,029.82 at 5.17am GMT. This was despite a positive close overnight on Wall Street amid oil prices stabilising after an oil industry strike in Kuwait.

Oil prices had taken a beating amid failed talks among Opec members in Doha on 17 April. However, the strike in Kuwaiti helped markets to pare losses and stabilise prices. The strike has affected more than 60% of the country's oil production, thus helping reduce the overall global oil glut. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at the New York-headquartered Clipperdata, said: "The material loss in production from the Kuwait strike has helped the oil market forget about the farce from Doha."

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 19 April at 5.30am GMT:

Country	Index	Price	Up/Down	%Change
Hong Kong	Hang Seng Index	21,301.73	Up	0.66%
Japan	Nikkei 225	16,817.46	Up	3.33%
South Korea	KOSPI	2,010.46	Up	0.07%
India	CNX Nifty (Holiday- Mahavir Jayanti)
Australia	S&P/ASX 200	5,198.70	Up	1.20%

Meanwhile, overnight (18 April), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18,004.16, up 0.60%, while the FTSE 100 closed higher by 0.15% at 6,353.52.

Among commodities, oil prices were in the red but were off yesterday's lows. Today (19 April), WTI crude oil was trading 0.05% lower at $39.76 (£27.79, €35.12) a barrel, while Brent was down 0.37% at $42.75 a barrel at 5.37am GMT.