Stocks slide, oil drops amidst Middle East conflict

Oil dipped under $100 on Friday, but remained far above pre-Mideast war levels with no end in sight to disrupted crude supplies.
With the conflict heading towards its third week, equity markets mostly dropped as investors grew increasingly worried about an extended crisis that could fan inflation and hammer the global economy.
'Fears of a burgeoning energy crisis remain front and centre for investors', noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.
'Inflationary fears are particularly prevalent with each day that passes'.
Major central banks, which prior to the war's outbreak were heavily forecast to keep on cutting interest rates, are now widely expected next week to freeze borrowing costs or even hike to keep a lid on inflation.
While top economies have agreed to release some of their strategic crude reserves, analysts argue that the move does little to address supply blockages, with Iran having vowed to attack oil resources in the Middle East and keep choking the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
In a further bid to ease the situation, the US Treasury Department said it would temporarily allow the sale of Russian oil that is at sea.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday called the decision 'wrong', claiming it could help fund Moscow's war against Ukraine.
This comes after French President Emmanuel Macron said that easing sanctions on Moscow — imposed over its war in Ukraine — was 'in no way' justified.
Moscow meanwhile urged the United States to lift more sanctions on its oil exports, saying it would help to stabilise global energy markets.
On foreign exchange markets, the dollar held its gains against major rivals owing to its safe-haven status and expectations that US interest rates will remain elevated longer than expected.
Next week's 'interest-rate meetings at the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England — and those of several of their global counterparts — come at a delicate time', said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
'Markets will be watching closely for any signals on how they plan to deal with surging oil and gas prices and whether they see it as a short-term bump to look through, or a development that has significantly altered the prospects for inflation and interest rates'.
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.4 per cent at $99.03 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.9 per cent at $93.87 per barrel
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 per cent at 10,275.72 points
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 per cent at 7,949.93
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 0.3 per cent at 23,512.25
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2 per cent at 53,819.61 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.0 per cent at 25,465.60 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8 per cent at 4,095.45 (close)
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.6 per cent at 46,677.85 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1464 from $1.1514 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3260 from $1.3346
Dollar/yen: UP at 159.41 yen from 159.39 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.44 pence from 86.27 pence. — AFP