Affected by escalating tensions in the Middle East, oil prices extended gains, with Brent crude on Sunday approaching its highest intraday level since the outbreak of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
As of 20:50 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Sunday, West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose 3.74 U.S. dollars, or 3.75 percent, to 103.38 U.S. dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange from the previous trading day's close. Brent crude for May delivery gained 3.86 U.S. dollars, or 3.43 percent, to 116.43 U.S. dollars per barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange from the previous session's close.
The U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict has lasted more than a month, while the prospect of negotiations between the United States and Iran remains unclear. The market is widely concerned that the war in the Middle East will be difficult to end in the short term, and remains pessimistic about the prospect of shipping returning to normal in the Strait of Hormuz, leading to continued fluctuations in crude oil prices.
US-Israel-Iran conflict pushes Brent crude near to record high
US-Israel-Iran conflict pushes Brent crude near to record high
Tokyo stocks rose Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index ending at a fresh record high, buoyed by optimism over a settlement in the Middle East conflict.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 1,654.93 points, or 2.68 percent, from Thursday at 63,339.07.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 38.65 points, or 1.00 percent, higher at 3,892.46.
"There was some optimistic trade around the latest U.S.-Iran talks, but this optimism seems to be based on the fact that things aren't getting drastically worse in the region rather than the situation improving significantly," Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN), recapped the day's developments.
"This optimism was most strongly on display, I think, in Tokyo today, where the Nikkei rose 2.7 percent with hopes for some relief on oil prices and other currently scarce materials. It's not just oil that is not getting out of the region. As we know, it's other petrochemicals and things like helium as well. The general performance was pretty strong. Metals producers were doing fairly well in Tokyo, but in Japan as well, the market is very much focused on AI stocks. And today, the gains were strong for SoftBank -- it was up almost 12 percent after a bit of a battering earlier in the week. And that SoftBank gain contributed nearly a third to the Nikkei's overall gains on Friday," said Pope.
Tokyo stocks end higher as U.S.-Iran talks fuel cautious optimism
