Oil and Equities Rebound, Says Alfred Lettner

Vienna, February 29, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Oil prices rose on Monday, extending recent bumper gains in line with rising global stock markets, and despite poor Chinese and Japanese economic data, analysts at Alfred Lettner, the independent financial advisory company in Austria said.

"After surging higher at the end of last week, crude oil prices have started the new week on the front foot," said Senior Investment Manager, Alexander Roux. "Oil and other traders have completely shrugged off the weaker Chinese trade and Japanese GDP figures that were published overnight."

"With Japan's Nikkei closing up more than seven per cent higher and European stocks also coming back strong, the market either expects to see more Bank of Japan monetary stimuli or is more hopeful that oil prices have bottomed out," added Mr. Roux.

Japan's economy shrank 0.4 per cent in the October-December quarter - an annualised 1.4 per cent - the Cabinet Office said on Monday, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's attempts to kickstart growth and ramp up inflation. For the whole of last year, growth in the world's number three economy was a measly 0.4 per cent.

"After a massive rebound in oil prices of well over 10 per cent, traders are looking to take some of those gains off the table," said Lennart Riegler, a market strategist at Alfred Lettner in Austria.

"And despite a slow start to the year, it's looking like things are slowly getting back on track for investors worldwide," Riegler added.