The financial markets began the first week of January cautiously and stable, while economic agents weigh the consequences that the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces will have on the supply, extraction and global marketing of oil.
Meanwhile, the start of operations of the Mexican peso in Asia was orderly, but with pressure, because the dollar gained ground after statements by Donald Trump, president of the United States, about Mexico and organized crime.
The price of oil – which traded downward in the Asian markets in the first minutes of Monday – returned to positive territory and made slight gains. The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea advanced 0.58 percent, to $61.11. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased 0.56 percent, to $57.64 per barrel.
Specialists maintain that investors are aware that it will take time to extract crude oil from Venezuela and generate investment in that country. The Venezuelan oil industry is in poor condition after years of neglect and international sanctions, so it could take years and large capital for production to increase dramatically.
However, some analysts are optimistic and believe that Venezuela could double or triple its current production, of approximately 1.1 million barrels of oil per day, to return to historical levels relatively quickly.
Those that continue to shine as hedging assets against inflation, geopolitical volatility and the evolution of the dollar are gold and silver, especially the latter. In Asia, these two metals gained 1.82 and 5.63 percent, and were quoted at 4,408.90 and 75,100 dollars per ounce, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Mexican peso depreciated 0.37 percent, to operate at around 17.9601 pesos per dollar. While waiting for the start of trading this Monday in North America, the fall of the national currency coincided with the advance of the dollar, which, according to the DXY index – which measures its behavior against six international currencies – rose 0.16 percent, to 98,310 points.
U.S. stock index futures were mixed. The fixed income market, on the other hand, reflected signs of containment. The required yield on the 10-year US bond is trading at 4.189 percent, jumping from 4.11 a week ago.
For its part, the Japanese Nikkei gained 2.73 percent and the Korean Kospi, 2.32.
Analysts hope, as Venezuela has been losing relevance due to declining oil production, the market could absorb the impact of Maduro’s capture as global supply increases.