Gas prices push up while uranium falls after crisis
GAS prices rose to a two-year high in Europe after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
The price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) jumped more than seven per cent yesterday to reach 74p per therm, on expectations that imports for the UK will be diverted to Japan.
Japan is the world’s largest consumer of LNG, with 30 per cent of its power supply coming from this source.
But shares in uranium producers slid due to rising concerns over the damaged nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan. Shares of Cameco, the world’s second largest uranium producer, closed down 5.78 per cent at C$27.73 (£17.46) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. “No one wants to own that kind of stock today,” said Baskin Financial Services portfolio manager Barry Schwartz.