The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is not having such a cracking day thus far this Tuesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by a mild 0.35% at just over 7,250 points. That makes the performance of the Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price even more noteworthy.
Beach Energy shares are comprehensively defying the markets today. This ASX 200 energy share is presently up a cracking 3.78% at $1.70 a share. This latest rise means Beach shares are now up close to 5% over the last five trading days, and up nearly 30% over 2022 thus far.
So what might be behind Beach's market defiance this Tuesday?
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Why is the Beach share price defying the ASX 200's selloff today?
Well, it's got nothing to do with Beach itself it seems, given there are no market announcements out from this oil producer so far today.
However, there is a noticeable trend going on today. Beach is not the only company rising in the face of a falling market. Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) is also doing rather well, although not as well as Beach. Santos shares are currently up by 1.5% at $8.32 a share. Indeed, the energy sector is one of the better performing ones on the ASX 200 today.
As such, this, and Beach's impressive share price performance, can probably be put down to the strong showing for oil that we've seen over the past 24 hours. As my Fool colleague James flagged this morning, WTI crude oil prices were up 1.8% to US$117.17 a barrel overnight. Brent crude oil prices also rose, this time by 1.9% to US$121.72 a barrel. These rises could be a result of the EU meeting being held over whether to impose additional sanctions on Russian energy.
So it appears this is the most likely explanation as to why ASX 200 energy shares like Beach are enjoying such cracking gains today in the face of the broader market's falls.
At the current Beach Energy share price, this ASX 200 energy share has a market capitalisation of $3.88 billion, with a dividend yield of 1.18%.
