TOKYO — Oil prices resumed their rise and most Asian markets fell on Monday as the US military prepared to blockade ships entering or leaving Strait of HormuzIran has stopped most shipping operations since the beginning of the war.
US President Donald Trump subsequently announced the planned blockade Ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran The talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement, and the US military said that the blockade, which includes all Iranian ports, will begin on Monday at 10 am EST, or 5:30 pm in Iran.
Oil prices are rising as shipping through the strait has been essentially halted since late February. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, has risen from around $70 a barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times.
On Monday, US crude oil jumped $6.71, or nearly 7%, to $103.28 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $6.20, or 6.5%, to $101.40 a barrel.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.7% to close at 56,502.77 points. Australia S&The P/ASX 200 index fell 0.4% to 8,926.00. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9% to 5,808.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.1% to 25,613.85, while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed, rising less than 0.1% to 3,988.56.
Analysts said global trade is expected to remain turbulent for some time.
“The outcome of the talks was not actually what people were hoping for, that’s for sure,” said Neil Newman, managing director and head of strategy at Japanese consultancy Astris, in Hong Kong.
“As we stand here at this moment, it doesn’t look very pretty. Oil prices are certainly a major concern,” he added.
Wall Street ended last week with a second consecutive weekly gain. S&The P 500 index fell 0.1% on Friday after a day of choppy trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%. But these gains came amid optimism about the weekend peace talks in Pakistan that were dashed by subsequent developments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.32% last Friday from 4.29% late Thursday.
All told, S&The P500 index fell by 7.77 points to 6,816.89 points. The Dow Jones index fell 269.23 points to 47,916.57 points, and the Nasdaq index gained 80.48 points to close at 22,902.89 points.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 159.69 Japanese yen from 159.25 yen. The price of the euro reached $1.1689, down from $1.1729.
___
Associated Press journalists Mayuko Ono, Damien J. Troyes and Alex Vega contributed to this report.
Yuri Kageyama is in the topics: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama