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Kuwait City - Kuwait's national carrier halted flights to Beirut on Thursday citing security concerns, after an air safety watchdog warned of potential military strikes on Syria in the coming days.

Kuwait Airways said that it took the decision "on the basis of credible security warnings received from the Cypriot authorities regarding the danger of flying over Lebanon's airspace".

The changes would stand "until further notice", the airline said on Twitter.

The move came after the European Aviation Safety Agency alerted airlines on Tuesday of the possible launch of "air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours", urging them to take precautionary measures.

Other international carriers including Air France and Lebanon's Middle East Airlines have also modifed their flight plans.

US President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that "missiles will be coming" in response to an alleged chemical attack in Syria.

If the US action follows the pattern of a previous punitive strike on Syria last year, it will begin with a salvo of cruise missiles fired from American warships in the Mediterranean.

Russia's ambassador to Beirut warned any US missiles would be shot down "as well as the sources they were fired from", raising the stakes of a regional confrontation.

HONG KONG — International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Wednesday issued a stern warning to governments to avoid undermining global growth with protectionist trade policies.

In a less than thinly-veiled warning to US President Donald Trump, who has locked horns with China on trade, the head of the IMF said countries should open trade further by reforming their own domestic practices rather than putting up new barriers to trade.

She said it was a mistake to view trade deficits as a sign of unfair trade practices — as Trump has repeatedly claimed, most notably in the current dispute with China.

Trump last month imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and announced pending tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in retaliation for alleged theft of intellectual property. 

Since then, Washington and Beijing have escalated threats of new import duties, raising the real risk of an all-out trade war.

Governments “need to steer clear of protectionism in all its forms”, Lagarde urged.

“Remember: the multilateral trade system has transformed our world over the past generation. It helped reduce by half the proportion of the global population living in extreme poverty.”

In a speech previewing the issues to be discussed when world finance ministers and central bankers gather in Washington next week for the IMF and World Bank Spring meetings, Lagarde said free trade “has created millions of new jobs with higher wages”.

An ‘inexcusable’ failure 

“But that system of rules and shared responsibility is now in danger of being torn apart,” she warned. “This would be an inexcusable, collective policy failure.”

Lagarde stressed that experience showed protectionist “import restrictions hurt everyone, especially poorer consumers”, by making products more expensive.

But barriers “also prevent trade from playing its essential role in boosting productivity”, something the IMF has repeatedly said advanced economies need to improve in order to improve potential economic growth rates.

Governments should work to “reduce trade barriers and resolve disagreements without using exceptional measures”, and should directly help those facing upheaval, whether from trade or new technology, by improving investment in training and education.

Lagarde also dismissed the argument — made by Trump and his trade advisers — that the presence of a trade deficit is a sign of unfair trade practices.

In fact, “these bilateral imbalances are a snapshot of the division of labour across economies”, she said.

The IMF next week will release its updated World Economic Outlook with forecasts of global growth, but despite the “darker clouds looming”, Lagarde said the world economy was seeing an upswing and “we continue to be optimistic”.

The IMF in January forecast global growth of 3.9 per cent for this year and next, and she said advanced economies were growing above potential while China, India and Japan continued to see strong growth.

ABU DHABI — Abu Dhabi's state energy company on Tuesday said it had opened its first auction for exploration contracts, offering six major oil and gas blocks as it looks to expand output. 

Successful bidders will gain access to untapped reserves estimated to hold billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic metres of natural gas, Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company (ADNOC) said.

Home to more than 90 per cent of United Arab Emirates (UAE) oil, Abu Dhabi is auctioning off licenses in its blocks for the first time.

"The licensing strategy represents a major advance in how Abu Dhabi unlocks new opportunities and maximises value from its hydrocarbon resources," the statement said.

Those granted the licences will enter into agreements granting exploration rights and the opportunity to develop the discoveries if targets are achieved, the company said.

Bids will be accepted for the six blocks — four onshore and two offshore — until October. 

The UAE, OPEC's fourth largest crude producer and the eighth largest globally, pumps around 2.8 million barrels per day and sits on just under 100 billion barrels of reserves — almost as much as neighbouring Kuwait.

In the past few weeks, ADNOC has awarded several international oil companies long-term concession rights in offshore and onshore fields to boost output.

Abu Dhabi has begun to award new oil concessions as old ones expire.

It has already granted concessions to Exxon Mobil, Total, BP, Shell and China's CNPC, among others.

ADNOC aims to increase Abu Dhabi's oil production capacity from 3.2 million barrels per day to 3.5 million by the end of 2018.

LONDON — European shares rose in early deals on Monday, as hopes that a full blown trade war between the United States and China could be averted spread across markets.

The pan European STOXX 600 had risen 0.5 per cent by 08:05 GMT, after closing in the red on Friday when investors feared the trade dispute between the world's two biggest economy could turn for the worse.

"The chatter over the weekend appeared to suggest some optimism that some form of deal would likely be the probable outcome, though how long that could take to pan out remains a significant unknown, and as such further volatility seems likely", said CMC Markets' Michael Hewson.

The situation in Syria, after President Donald Trump warned of a "big price to pay" for dozens of people killed by poison gas in a rebel-held town, was not impacting confidence.

The fact that US futures were pointing to Wall Street opening in positive territory was supporting European bourses, analysts said. 

Financial stocks contributed the most to the rise with Deutsche Bank up 3.2 per cent after it named a new CEO who said tough decisions would have to be made and the structure of its investment bank reviewed.

Another top mover was Portuguese energy and utility group EDP, up 5.3 per cent after a report French utility Engie was examining a possible bid. 

Britain's Rolls-Royce rose 1.9 per cent after it agreed to sell its Germany-based diesel parts maker L'Orange to US-based engineering company Woodward Inc. for 700 million euros ($859 million), as part of a plan to simplify its business. 

Telecom Italia retreated 0.5 per cent after proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommended investors back a proposal by activist fund Elliott to replace six board members and shake up the way top shareholder Vivendi runs the phone group.

Fresh US sanctions on Russia had a strong impact on a number of corporations linked to allies of President Vladimir Putin. 

En+ Group, which manages the assets of tycoon Oleg Deripaska, was down over 20 per cent and said the sanctions were "highly likely" to materially affect its business and prospects in an adverse way. 

Shares in Swiss pump maker's shares Sulzer and Swiss technology group Oerlikon were sharply down, falling 8.5 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively after their majority holder Viktor Vekselberg appeared on a list of US-sanctioned individuals.

NEW YORK — Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower on Friday after escalating threats in the US-China trade spat deepened fears of an all-out trade war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down nearly 575 points, or 2.3 per cent, at 23,932.76 after sinking more than 3 per cent earlier.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.2 per cent to 2,604.47, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.3 per cent to 6,915.11.

Investors were unnerved by President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports as the US president hit out at China's "unfair retaliation" to a prior Trump announcement of $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.

China's reply was also strident.

"If the US side disregards opposition from China and the international community and insists on carrying out unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will take them on until the end at any cost," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

Losses were broad-based, with all 30 members of the Dow finishing negative.

"The market is getting more concerned about the possibility of a trade war between the US and China," said Tom Cahill, portfolio strategist at Ventura Wealth Management.

"The market does not like uncertainty and right now we have a lot of it."

US stocks were in the red throughout the session but losses deepened in the afternoon following an interview with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a speech by Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said investors were disappointed by the lack of reassurances from Trump administration officials, including Mnuchin, who told CNBC that the administration hoped to negotiate but acknowledged that a trade war was a possibility.

The Mnuchin interview was a "reminder that things are moving in a contentious direction because there are no negotiations and no one is really backing down on either side on the implementation of tariffs", O'Hare said.

Fed chair Powell, meanwhile, signalled that the US central bank still plans to press ahead with additional interest rate hikes in 2018, a stance that also disappointed investors.

"The market might have been starting to contemplate that all the trade volatility might lead the Fed to be a little less aggressive with its policy, and at least for today, the Fed chairman didn't give any indication that that was going to be the case," O'Hare said.

LONDON — Global stocks shot higher on Thursday as investors judged recent trade war fears were overblown, dealers said.

In Europe, the French and German stock markets both climbed more than 2 per cent, while London rose 1.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, at the opening bell Wall Street added to gains made the previous day, with the Dow rising 0.4 per cent in the first minute of trading.

Tokyo led the gainers in Asia, climbing a solid 1.5 per cent as the more positive market sentiment reduced demand for the haven yen, pushing the currency down. Hong Kong and Shanghai were closed for holidays.

"Investors are expressing confidence that a solution will be found before a full-blown trade war erupts," said Craig Erlam, senior analyst at trading firm Oanda.

However, he also sounded a note of caution over the lingering market concerns.

"The reality is that a trade war remains a real possibility," warned Erlam.

"US President Donald Trump is looking to pick a fight with the world's second largest economy, a fight he believes is easy to win, and China is willing to go toe to toe with the United States — even if it means inflicting harm at home."

The more bullish outlook for stocks came on the heels of a see-saw session on Wall Street on Wednesday that saw equities rally impressively into the close.

Traders have been spooked by tit-for-tat accusations and measures between China and the United States that some fear could lead to a full-blown trade war between the world's top two economies.

China unveiled plans on Wednesday to hit major US exports in retaliation for US tariff plans detailed the day before.

"It's hard to see how anyone wins in this but investors currently, despite the declines we've seen, are expressing confidence that a solution will be found before a full blown trade war erupts," said Erlam.

The Dow whipsawed nearly 800 points between its session low and peak on Wednesday before finishing with a gain of one per cent.

Analysts said the catalyst for the turnaround was comments by recently appointed White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who suggested Trump's strident approach to China was a negotiating tactic to win concessions.

"I understand the stock market anxiety. I get that," Kudlow told Fox Business. "I think at the end of this whole process, the end of the rainbow, there's a pot of gold."

DAMASCUS — The Syrian pound has appreciated around 10 per cent against the US dollar in recent days, as rebel fighters quit their final stronghold of Eastern Ghouta on the edges of the capital.

The unofficial exchange rate in the capital was at 430 Syrian pounds per dollar on Wednesday, compared with 460 pounds the previous week.

When Syria's conflict first erupted in 2011, the currency was valued at 48 Syrian pounds per dollar but it has depreciated dramatically since then.

The pound hit its highest value in years on Monday morning, according to the Al Watan Syrian daily, reaching 405 pounds per dollar just as a new deal for Eastern Ghouta began to be implemented.

The official exchange rate is still at 436 pounds per dollar.

On Monday, rebels and civilians began evacuating the town of Douma, the final opposition-held pocket of the Ghouta enclave.

Rebel fighters had held Ghouta since 2012, and recapturing it will be seen as a victory for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

"The psychological factor has no doubt tipped the balance, especially in light of the most recent deal reached in Ghouta," Syrian economic analyst Firas Haddad told AFP.

The pull-outs came under a deal announced on Friday between regime backer Russia and rebel group Jaish Al Islam, which controls Douma. 

The first evacuations saw 1,100 people leave Douma for the opposition-held town of Jarabulus in northern Syria, and another 1,200 were bussed out the following day.

LONDON — Europe's stock markets slid on Tuesday as trade war fears and technology sector woes took their toll, while Wall Street managed small gains after a massive sell-off the previous day.

The very partial rebound in American stocks, sparked by bargain-hunting, helped European bourses off their worst levels, traders said.

"US stocks are higher in early action, coming off a sharp drop yesterday that came courtesy of festering global trade war concerns and the persistent weakness in the technology sector", Charles Schwab analysts said.

But the Dow's firmer trend at the opening "pales in comparison to the losses recorded on Monday and reflects ongoing weakness in stocks," warned Craig Erlam at OANDA.

Global equities experienced their worst three months in over two years between January and March, Lukman Otunuga at FXTM noted.

Worst April since depression 

"Retaliatory tariffs announced by China resulted in stocks suffering their worst start to April since the great depression," he said.

All three major European markets were shut on Friday and Monday, as investors enjoyed a four-day holiday weekend.

Despite Tuesday's weakness, European markets still did much better than Wall Street's combined Monday and Tuesday performance, said Jasper Lawler at the London Capital Group.

"Europe is out of the firing line for Trump's tariffs for now and has a lower weighting in technology companies compared to the US," he said. "Both factors make Europe a relative haven from the current negative news flow."

Asian stock markets, which also traded on Monday, ended mixed, as fears of a trade war between the United States and China loomed large.

 Value-sapping trade war

"There was no real letup this Tuesday, the European indices continuing to play catch-up with Monday's value-sapping trade war developments," said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

Wall Street had plunged around two per cent on Monday after China slapped tariffs on 128 US exports worth $3 billion including fruit and pork.

The Dow tumbled 1.9 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 2.2 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 2.7 per cent.

China's action — the latest tit-for-tat over US President Donald Trump's duties on steel and aluminium — followed weeks of rhetoric that has raised fears of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

Overall, Asian stock market losses were not as bad as first feared at the open, with stocks across the region clawing back ground later in the session.

"The impact from the US market turned out not to be so bad as to incite terror here thanks to lingering hopes that tensions may ease in the weeks to come,” noted Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

NEW YORK — US stocks tumbled on Monday, weighed down by Amazon.com after US President Donald Trump again attacked the online retailer, while the dollar slid as China raised tariffs on US products in an escalating spat between the world’s two biggest economies.

China bumped tariffs up to 25 per cent on 128 US products, from frozen pork and wine to certain fruits and nuts, in response to US duties on imports of aluminum and steel.

Gold snapped a three-session losing streak and the dollar fell after the tariffs, which are due to take effect on Monday, announced late Sunday by China’s finance ministry.

Trading was light as major European markets were closed for the Easter holiday on Monday. Markets in Australia and Hong Kong also were shut.

Shares of Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet dominated trading on MSCI’s all-country world stock index, which fell 0.91 per cent. The four companies were also the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Trump’s comments on Amazon weighed on the equity market but further news on US-China trade later this week is drawing investor interest, said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. in Boston.

“Everybody is bracing for that,” Kleintop said of expected US tariffs on $50 billion to $60 billion worth of annual imports from China that will likely intensify US - China tensions.

The Trump administration will unveil by Friday a list of advanced technology Chinese imports targeted for US tariffs to punish Beijing over technology transfer policies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 544.13 points, or 2.26 per cent, to 23,558.98, the S&P 500 lost 64.75 points, or 2.45 per cent, to 2,576.12 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 192.21 points, or 2.72 per cent, to 6,871.24.

Shares of Amazon.com Inc. fell 4.8 per cent after Trump attacked the online retailer over the pricing of its deliveries through the US postal system and promised unspecified changes.

“Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money-losing Post Office makes money with Amazon,” Trump tweeted.

Emerging market stocks were down 0.17 per cent.

The dollar fell for a second straight session. The dollar index fell 0.04 per cent, with the euro down 0.3 per cent to $1.2284. The Japanese yen firmed 0.23 per cent at 106.05 per dollar. 

Oil fell below $68 a barrel, reversing an earlier rally, as a rise in Russian production and concern about a US-China trade spat offset a drop in US drilling activity. 

US drillers cut seven oil rigs in the week to March 29, bringing the total down to 797, the first decline in three weeks. The rig count is closely watched as an indicator of future US oil output.

US crude fell $1.81 to $63.13 per barrel, and Brent was last at $67.88, down $1.46 on the day.

US Treasury yields rose, with benchmark 10-year notes down 1/32 in price to yield 2.7461 per cent.

Spot gold added 1.1 per cent to $1,338.04 an ounce.

BEIJING - China has increased tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products including frozen pork, wine and certain fruits and nuts, escalating a spat between the world's biggest economies in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminium and steel.

The tariffs, to take effect on Monday, were announced late on Sunday by China's finance ministry and matched a list of potential tariffs on up to $3 billion in U.S. goods published by China on March 23

Soon after the announcement, an editorial in the widely read Chinese tabloid Global Times warned that if the U.S. had thought China would not retaliate or would only take symbolic counter-measures, it can now "say goodbye to that delusion."

"Even though China and the U.S. have not publicly said they are in a trade war, the sparks of such a war have already started to fly," the editorial said.

China's Ministry of Commerce said it was suspending its obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reduce tariffs on 120 U.S. goods, including fruit and ethanol. The tariffs on those products will be raised by an extra 15 percent.

Eight other products, including pork and scrap aluminium, will now be subject to additional tariffs of 25 percent, it said, with the measures effective from April 2.

"China's suspension of its tariff concessions is a legitimate action adopted under WTO rules to safeguard China's interests," the Chinese finance ministry said.

The retaliatory tariffs came amid escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, which have rocked global financial markets in the past week as investors feared a full-blown trade spat between two countries will be damaging for world growth.

U.S. President Donald Trump is separately preparing to impose tariffs of more than $50 billion on Chinese goods intended to punish Beijing over U.S. accusations that China systematically misappropriated American intellectual property - allegations Beijing denies.

China has repeatedly promised to open its economy further, but many foreign companies continue to complain of unfair treatment. China warned the United States on Thursday not to open a Pandora's Box and spark a flurry of protectionist practices across the globe.

"There are some people in the West who think that China looks tough for the sake of a domestic audience, and would easily make concessions in the end," the Global Times editorial said.

"But they are wrong."

The Global Times is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, although its stance does not necessarily reflect Chinese government policy.

In a statement published on Monday morning, the Chinese commerce ministry said the United States had "seriously violated" the principles of non-discrimination enshrined in World Trade Organization rules, and had also damaged China's interests.

"China's suspension of some of its obligations to the United States is its legitimate right as a member of the World Trade Organization," it said, adding that differences between the world's two largest economies should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation.