GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil, equities slip as OPEC+ cut fails to lift confidence

* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices and U.S. stock
futures dipped in early Monday trade as a landmark agreement by
OPEC and its allies to slash output by a record amount failed to
give investors any cause for lasting optimism about the economic
outlook.
U.S. S&P 500 mini futures EScv1 dropped 1.54%, erasing a
brief gain to a one-month high made right after the start of
trading.
Nikkei futures traded in Chicago NIYc1 suggest Tokyo's
benchmark .N225 is likely to slip about 0.2%.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 dropped to $22.67 per barrel, down
0.4% as they quickly erased earlier gains to hit the lowest
level since April 2.
Brent futures LCOc1 were down 0.67% at $31.27 per barrel,
having risen to $33.99.
A group of oil producing countries known as OPEC+, which
includes Russia, said it had agreed to reduce output by 9.7
million barrels per day (bpd) for May-June, after four days of
marathon talks. A bigger question for investors, however, is whether the
novel coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged global economic
growth, will soon peak in the United States and Europe, as had
been hoped.
"While panic selling we saw last month has faded, not many
investors would want to chase stock prices higher given we are
about to see more evidence of economic downturns," said Masahiro
Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset
Management.
OPEC+ said in a draft statement seen by Reuters it expected
total global oil cuts to amount to more than 20 million bpd, or
20% of global supply, effective May 1.
That includes contributions from non-members, steeper
voluntary cuts by some OPEC+ members and strategic purchases by
the world's largest consumers, sources said.
Still, that falls short of completely offsetting an
estimated 30 million bpd drop in worldwide fuel consumption
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "In the short term, the WTI may hold above $20 after the
deal but it could fall below that level unless all the countries
follow up their words with actions," said Tatsufumi Okoshi,
senior economist at Nomura Securities.
Also in focus this week, U.S. companies announce their
earnings, starting from big banks, and China releases its trade
data on Tuesday and closely watched gross domestic product data
on Friday.
In foreign exchange markets, risk-sensitive currencies were
softer while the safe-haven dollar and the yen found support.
The Australian dollar fell 0.3% to $0.6303 AUD=D4 while
the Mexican peso dropped 0.4% to 23.430 per dollar MXN=D4 .
The euro stood flat at $1.0934 EUR= and the yen gained
0.15% to 108.34 to the dollar JPY= .

(Editing by Sam Holmes)