Sector movers: Oil and Gas shares top leaderboard again

Oil and Gas shares topped the leaderboard again on Tuesday as Washington and London announced bans on the importation of Russian oil.

"That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable in U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin's war machine," U.S. President Joe Biden said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures finished up by 3.6% to $123.70 a barrel on the back of his remarks, having earlier hit an intraday high of $129.44.

Earlier, the UK had announced that it would phase out imports of Russian oil and oil products by 2022.

US Energy Information Administration data showed that in 2021 the US imported around 672,000 barrels a day of oil and refined products from Russia or 8.0% of the America's total imports of those goods.

Imports of just oil ran at a pace of 200,000 b/d during the previous year.

Earlier, the European Commission had laid out plans that would reportedly allow it to reduce the bloc's purchases of Russian natural gas by a third in 2022 and 2023, but no decision had yet been taken.

The decision by the White House came amid growing pressure from members of both parties in Congress due to the ongoing assault against Ukraine.

All of the above transpired as some analysts openly admitted that trying to predict the outcome of the war was like attempting to "catch a falling knife".

Overnight however, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, told US broadcaster ABC News that he had cooled down regarding Nato membership for his country.

Zelensky also said that he was open to discussing about the control of the Russian-backed separatist regions in the east of his country.

Nevertheless, he went on to add that: "The people who elected me are not ready to surrender. We are not ready for ultimatums.

"But we can discuss with Russia the future of Crimea and Donbas."

His remarks were followed on Tuesday by those of US Central Intelligence Agency chief, William Burns, who told a Congressional committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin was likely to "double down".

"I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now. He's likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.

"He has no sustainable political end game in the face of what is going to continue to be fierce resistance from Ukrainians."

Top performing sectors so far today

Oil, Gas and Coal 6,970.59 +3.52%

Life Insurance 6,488.51 +2.01%

Aerospace and Defence 4,624.30 +1.57%

Electricity 10,066.96 +1.33%

Banks 2,921.41 +1.14%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Investment Banking and Brokerage Services 11,192.71 -4.79%

Leisure Goods 15,875.42 -4.57%

Automobiles & Parts 2,274.39 -4.31%

Media 8,325.86 -3.46%

Real Estate Investment & Services 2,589.79 -2.90%