Asian markets mixed as oil prices tumble amid comments from Saudi Arabia's energy minister

While Asian stock market indices were trading mixed on Monday (28 November), the Shanghai Composite was up 0.51% at 3,278.51 as of 4.56am GMT following a decline in oil prices.

On Sunday, Khalid al-Falih, Saudi Arabia's energy minister, opined that the balance between supply and demand of crude would stabilise in 2017 even if oil producing nations fail to cut output. He said the current levels of crude production were justified.

The minster went on to say that the desert country, which is one of the largest oil producers in the world, would not be attending the talks with non-Opec nations scheduled for Monday as other Opec members had themselves not agreed on production levels.

The comments raised fears amid investors that Opec nations would not agree to a production cut at the meeting. It also raised worries that the September preliminary agreement for Opec to reduce output to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day, would not materialise when Opec ministers meet on Wednesday to finalise the agreement.

"Oil prices have fallen considerably on worries about the deal. That would pressure energy shares, and could hit the entire stock markets. Given their rally in recent days, it's no surprise to see some adjustment," Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management, was quoted as commenting by Reuters.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 5.11am GMT:

Last week (25 November), the FTSE 100 closed 0.17% higher at 6,840.75, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.36% higher at 19,152.14.

Among commodities, oil prices were trading in the red. As of 5.15am GMT, WTI Crude Oil was trading lower by 0.04% at $46.04 (£36.81) a barrel, while Brent Crude was also trading 0.04% lower at $47.22 a barrel.