White House: A summit between Biden and Putin is 'certainly not in the plans' at this point

In addition to the latest blow to the hopes of the Blinken-Lavrov meeting, rejections of the Biden-Putin summit also posed challenges to the market sentiment during early Wednesday morning in Asia.

Before a few minutes, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected the need for Thursday’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov while citing the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read: US Secretary Blinken: It doesn't make sense for me to meet with Russia's Lavrov anymore

Following that, the White House ruled out the scope of a summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, which triggered optimism earlier in the week.

Elsewhere, an anonymous US Diplomat was recently quoted saying, “US officials did not discuss increasing oil production during US trip to Saudi Arabia last week.”

The official also added, “OPEC countries understand our concerns about the importance of the stability of global oil markets.”

Market reactions

The risk-off mood gains pace with each negative headline concerning the Russia-Ukraine tensions, which in turn helps prices of oil and gold.

Read: WTI defends $91.00 on fears of Russian invasion, API data eyed