The week in review: Saipem soars as oil tumbles

As the financial markets continue to experience volatility amidst the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as high levels of inflation, here are the most rising and most falling instruments on AvaTrade’s retail trading platform over the past week:

Most Rising

Instrument                         Previous Week Change (%)

Saipem                                         28.96%

USDRUB                                       14.06%

Snapchat                                      13.87%

Palladium                                     11.41%

Tesla                                              10.53%

Most Falling

Instrument                         Previous Week Change (%)

Heating Oil                                        -7.00%

Vallourec                                           -6.80%

Gasoline                                            -5.97%

Teva                                                   -5.59%

GDX                                                    -3.88%

“This week saw Saipem’s share price increase dramatically to claim first place in our most rising table. The Italian energy services group has benefitted from reaching two significant milestone in offshore wind in the last few weeks. The first, is the installation of the offshore substation at the Saint-Brieuc wind farm site in France. And the second, is the delivery of the final of its batch of jacket foundations for the Formosa 2 offshore wind farm in Taiwan. These two achievements have helped to increase confidence in a stock that has been steadily dropping throughout the year,” said Naeem Aslam, Chief Market Analyst, AvaTrade. “Elsewhere, the rise of the Russian ruble has seen the USDRUB currency exchange rate increase by over 14%, taking second place on this week’s most raising table. In normal circumstances, a strong currency – the Russia ruble hit a seven-year high against the US dollar – would be a good sign. However, Russia’s economy has struggled to maintain balance following a range of international sanctions being imposed on them, as punishment for invading Ukraine. Due to the unprecedented nature of the sanctions, Russia has imposed a number of capital flight prevention measures, such as tough capital controls and central bank interest rate hikes. Although these policies support the local currency, it is artificially propping up the ruble. The country’s unique condition with foreign trade has created a scenario in which the more valuable ruble becomes, the more Russia loses on real income.”

“A quick look at our most falling table shows that this week, heating oil took the top spot, while gasoline came in at third place. This is despite Russia being a key player in the exportation of these oil and gas commodities. The price fall can be explained by the commodities retreating from their war-driven peaks to a marginally more reflective price – a very minor market correction. Nevertheless, the price fall is so minimal that the high prices still remain a cause for concern.” Mr Aslam added.