- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
Equities rally as volatility eases for now
Equities rose Tuesday as the volatility that has gripped markets since Russia invaded Ukraine eased slightly, though oil extended gains as the United States contemplates releasing some of its reserves to temper prices.
With no let-up in the assault on its neighbour, Russia has been pummelled by a series of widespread and debilitating sanctions that have sent the ruble crashing, hammered its stock market and forced the central bank to more than double interest rates to 20 percent.
France's finance minister warned Tuesday that the raft of punishments "will bring about the collapse of the Russian economy".
The crisis has also ramped up fears about supplies of crucial commodities from the region including wheat and nickel but particularly crude, just as demand surges owing to economic reopenings.
Talks between Kyiv and Moscow did not appear to yield anything positive, while Vladimir Putin laid out to French President Emmanuel Macron his demands to end the war.
They include "the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the demilitarisation and denazification of the Ukrainian state and ensuring its neutral status".
The conflict provides an extra headache for global central banks, who will likely have to recalibrate their plans to tighten monetary policy as they try to support their economies.
Some observers have already eased their expectations for the Federal Reserve's timetable of interest rate hikes. While this month is still tipped to see the first, few now forecast a big move.
Markets analyst Louis Navellier said a drop in Treasury yields "seems to reflect the belief that the US Fed will choose to lighten up their resolve to raise rates and plans to start running off their balance sheet until the impact of the battle in Ukraine, the sanctions on Russia, and even the lifting of most pandemic rules have played themselves out".
"In the short term, a more dovish monetary policy will be good for the stock market, particularly high valuation tech stocks."
On Wall Street the Dow and S&P 500 ended down but off earlier lows, while the Nasdaq was higher. Europe closed in the red.
But Asia enjoyed another positive day Tuesday, with Tokyo, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Wellington more than one percent up while Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Jakarta and Bangkok also rose.
US futures also rose, while London opened higher, though Paris and Frankfurt dipped.
"Markets may well feel that the worst of the bad news is now out there, especially on the sanctions front," said OANDA's Jeffrey Halley.
"I am not so sure of that, but the market is always right, and we have to respect the momentum from a short-term perspective."
Other commentators foresaw further volatility to come.
"Over the next few weeks we'll see a lot of gyrations and a potential for an even bigger dip," Andy Kapyrin at RegentAtlantic Capital LLC told Bloomberg Television.
"But that will be a dip worth buying because most geopolitical crises are resolved relatively quickly."
Oil prices rose but the gains were more subdued than recent days as President Joe Biden considers tapping the vast US reserves to help mitigate the potential loss of Russia's huge output.
However, analysts said the measure would not likely be enough and Goldman Sachs has warned prices could hit $115.
"Another round of releasing strategic crude reserves might be a temporary solution to rising prices as long as this Russia-Ukraine crisis isn't resolved," Will Sungchil Yun, senior commodities analyst at VI Investment Corp.
A meeting of OPEC and other major producers including Russia will be closely followed on Wednesday as they discuss whether to continue with their plan to lift output.
- Key figures around 0820 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 26,844.72 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 22,761.71 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 3,488.83 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,464.87
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $97.09 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.7 percent at $99.65 per barrel
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1219 from $1.1220 late Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3419 from $1.3418
Euro/pound: UP at 83.60 pence from 83.59 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 115.05 yen from 114.93 yen
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 33,892.60 (close)
M.Fischer--AMWN