Hong Kong, Mar 31: Oil steadied and Asian stocks were mostly lower Tuesday as signs of a de-escalation of the Iran war remained mixed.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.6 per cent to 51,063.72. Losses after the Iran war that began on February 28 have been wiping out the gains it made from the beginning of the year.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.3 per cent to 5,052.46. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.3 per cent to 24,678.17, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8 per cent to 3,891.86.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3 per cent, while Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 2.5 per cent lower.
US futures were up more than 0.7 per cent early Tuesday.
With the Iran war in its fifth week, attacks in the Middle East continued and there was still no clear end to the war. Brent crude futures were less than 0.1 per cent lower at USD 107.37 a barrel on Tuesday, while benchmark US crude edged up 0.1 per cent to USD 102.93 per barrel.
Oil prices have surged in March with Brent crude prices rising more than 40 per cent since the start of the Iran war.
On Tuesday, a drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters and caused a fire. The US’s Gulf allies were privately making a case to the White House that Iran has not been weakened enough, officials said, and were urging US President Donald Trump to keep fighting.
Meanwhile, Trump has said the US is in negotiation with Iran’s parliamentary speaker, though Iran denied such talks were happening.
Maritime traffic disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes through, remains the pain point for global energy supplies.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has “options available” in response to Tehran’s threats to control the strait, after Iran was said to have effectively created a “toll booth” there.
Wall Street stocks were mixed on Monday. The S&P 500 dropped 0.4 per cent to 6,343.72, the Nasdaq composite lost 0.7 per cent to 20,794.64, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 per cent to 45,216.14.
Shares of food distributor Sysco fell 15.3 per cent, after it said it would be acquiring supplier Jetro Restaurant Depot in a USD 29 billion deal.
In other dealings early Tuesday, gold and silver prices were up. Gold’s price was 0.7 per cent higher at USD 4,590.30 an ounce, and silver prices rose 2.8 per cent to USD 72.56 per ounce.
The US dollar was at 159.69 Japanese yen, down from 159.71 Japanese yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1470, up from USD 1.1465. (AP)
