London (AFP) – Oil prices briefly soared back above $80 per barrel while stock markets slid Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was over, following renewed strikes in the Middle East. The latest bout of fighting was sparked by Iranian attacks on ships in the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping route, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transited before the war. Trump said at a NATO summit in Turkey the ceasefire was “over,” although he left the door open to more talks.
The markets responded, with oil shooting back up again having in recent days come back down towards pre-war levels. International benchmark Brent North Sea crude jumped 8 percent to $80.12 per barrel around 1520 GMT, before giving up some of those gains. Meanwhile, the benchmark US oil contract, WTI for August delivery, gained 7.7 percent to $75.83 per barrel. The potential reclosure of the Strait of Hormuz led to a sea of red on equity trading screens in markets across the world.
“The looming resumption of war between the US and Iran, or at least a fresh blockade of the latter, has driven a wave of selling in European markets that are heavily exposed to higher energy costs,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading and investing platform IG. Paris and Frankfurt both ended the day down more than two percent and London dropped 1.6 percent. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 1.6 percent in late morning trading, with both the broad-based S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down one percent as Trump’s comments “triggered a sell-off” in markets, said Sam Stovall from CFRA.
“Geopolitical risks are rising” for markets, noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB. Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with Forex.com, was even blunter. “After a long and eventful first half of the year dominated by the US-Israel war on Iran and Trump’s constant flip-flopping, the last thing investors, and frankly anyone else, needed with the summer holidays approaching was a return of the same geopolitical environment,” he said. “Unfortunately, it looks like we could be heading back to that.”
The United States launched extensive strikes on Iran this week following attacks on ships in the strait, triggering a wave of reprisals against American bases in the Gulf. Washington also revoked a temporary sanctions waiver for Iranian oil. Equities in Asia also suffered, with the geopolitical tensions coming on top of a retreat from the tech sector on concerns over the eye-watering sums being invested in AI.
Seoul’s Kospi — which has been Asia’s poster child for the tech rally — sank more than five percent and has lost more than 20 percent since hitting a record high last month. Samsung took another hit following a rout Tuesday that came despite the firm forecasting a roughly 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit from a year earlier on the back of strong AI chip demand. The company and rival SK hynix both tumbled around six percent. “Investors have been spooked in recent weeks by fears of excessive spending in the AI world and rich valuations in parts of the tech space, causing widespread profit-taking,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
The dollar made some gains against its peers as the prospect of another hit to Middle East oil supplies fueled concerns that inflation could remain elevated for longer than feared, putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.
– Key figures around 1530 GMT –
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 7.4 percent at $79.67 a barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 7.0 percent at $75.34 a barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 1.6 percent at 52,099.24 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 1.0 percent at 7,427.06
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 1.0 percent at 25,552.67
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.7 percent at 10,489.04 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 2.2 percent at 8,252.66 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 2.2 percent at 24,897.45 (close)
Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 5.4 percent at 7,246.79 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.1 percent at 66,819.05 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 3.0 percent at 24,199.46 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,970.88 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1401 from $1.1415
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3364 from $1.3360
Dollar/yen: UP at 162.66 yen from 162.09 yen on Tuesday
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.31 pence from 85.44 pence
© 2024 AFP
