Tokyo: Oil prices resumed their climb and global markets mostly declined Monday as the US military prepared to blockade traffic to and from Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz, where most shipping has been stalled by Iran since the start of the war.
US President Donald Trump announced the planned blockade after US-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement, and the US military said the blockade involving all Iranian ports would begin Monday at 10 am EDT, or 5:30 pm in Iran.
Oil prices have been rising as shipping through the strait has essentially stalled since late February. Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly USD 70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than USD 119 at times.
On Monday, benchmark US crude jumped USD 7.12 or 7.4 per cent to USD 103.69 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose USD 7.04 or 7.4 per cent to USD 102.24 a barrel.
France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.0 per cent to 8,174.44 in early trading, while the German DAX lost 1.0 per cent to 23,568.65. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.4 per cent to 10,561.47. US shares were set to drift lower with Dow futures down 0.5 per cent at 47,911.00. S&P 500 futures fell 0.6 per cent to 6,815.50.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.7 per cent to finish at 56,502.77. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4 per cent to 8,926.00. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.9 per cent to 5,808.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.9 per cent to 25,660.85, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching up less than 0.1 per cent to 3,988.56.
Analysts said global trading was expected to remain turbulent for some time.
“The outcome of the talks was not really what people were hoping for, that’s for certain,” Neil Newman, Managing Director, Head of Strategy at Astris Advisory Japan, said in Hong Kong.
“As we stand here at the moment, it doesn’t look very nice. Certainly, the oil prices are a big concern.”
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar gained to 159.65 Japanese yen from 159.
AP
