Major stock markets in the Gulf were up in early trading on Wednesday, as oil prices rose amid an escalation in the Ukraine war and signs of growing Chinese crude imports.

In a major move, the outgoing president of the United States, Joseph Biden, gave the much-awaited green signal to the Ukrainian forces under President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to use US-made long-range weapons to strike strategic targets inside Russian territory.

Global stocks rose in choppy trading on Tuesday as markets waited for President-elect Donald Trump to make more appointments to his incoming administration, while oil prices settled slightly higher as tensions mounted between Russia and the U.

Crude futures traded on a mixed note Tuesday, with U.S. prices moving lower and global prices on the rise as traders tracked developments in the Russia-Ukraine war that look to raise the risk of oil-supply disruptions from one of the world’s largest producers.

Markets sold off Tuesday as geopolitical tensions escalated between Ukraine and Russia. The Dow fell 300 points, or 0.7%; and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both moved around 0.5% lower. The selling comes after Moscow changed its nuclear doctrine following the Biden administration giving Ukraine permission to use longer-range weapons inside targets in Russia.

Oil prices edged up on Monday after fighting between Russia and Ukraine intensified over the weekend, although concerns about fuel demand in China and forecasts of a global oil surplus weighed on markets.