London (AFP) – World oil prices surged Monday as a fresh flare-up between the United States and Iran rattled investors, while a selloff in chipmakers sent South Korea’s stock market plunging. Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell as did the broad S&P 500 as shares in US chipmakers tumbled. European stock markets were little changed.
“The roller-coaster ride continues, both with respect to the US-Iran conflict and the semiconductor trade,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare. “Each is on a downhill swing today, which isn’t a comfortable situation for the stock market,” he added. President Donald Trump said the United States would reinstall its naval blockade of Iranian ports and would take over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the US would charge a 20 percent rate on all cargo shipped through the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transited before the war.
Iran’s military warned that it would not allow the United States to “interfere” in the management of the strait of Hormuz as hostilities resumed. The United States struck Iran for the second day Monday, prompting Tehran to retaliate against US allies in the Gulf, as the two sides battle over the status of the strategic waterway. Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, rallied as much as five percent Monday, before paring gains to trade just under $80 a barrel. The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, also spiked around 5 percent.
“While (oil) prices are still not at crisis levels, the creep upwards will ignite fresh inflationary worries and concerns about how far higher interest rates could move,” noted Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club. “That’s being reflected in the bond markets, with yields on gilts and US Treasuries rising,” she added. Higher interest rates could fuel equity volatility, Briefing.com’s O’Hare warned. “The higher rates go, the more turbulent the turns will get, but if they come down, so will the market’s anxiety level,” he said.
On equity markets, tech firms came under renewed pressure after weeks of volatility fuelled by concerns about stretched valuations and questions over the vast sums pumped into the AI sector. South Korean chip titan SK hynix plunged more than 15 percent, extending a recent bout of selling that has seen the market heavyweight lose nearly 40 percent since hitting a record last month. The loss came after the firm’s US-listed shares soared almost 13 percent on their New York debut following a record $26.5 billion share sale. Rival Samsung was down more than 10 percent by Monday’s close.
“The South Korean market is now considered a key barometer of sentiment towards the chip sector, so when it declines it can have ripple effects across the world,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB. There were also losses in Tokyo, where tech firms Advantest and Tokyo Electron tumbled. Shares in US chipmakers were also hit, with Micron and Marvell both down around five percent. Investors are gearing up for the latest earnings season, which will be pored over for an idea about the outlook for the AI industry. This week sees reports from Taiwanese chip giant TSMC and Dutch firm ASML, which produces chipmaking equipment, while US tech firms begin reporting next week. A number of Wall Street banks are lined up to report earnings this week, including JP Morgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
Key figures around 1530 GMT:
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 4.7 percent at $79.56 a barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 4.8 percent at $74.80 a barrel
New York – Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 52,557.47 points
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,550.06
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 26,069.15
London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 10,498.29 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,364.65 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 25,114.25 (close)
Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 9.0 percent at 6,806.93 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.9 percent at 67,242.73 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 24,213.72 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 2.1 percent at 3,913.79 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1400 from $1.1415 on Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3377 from $1.3397
Dollar/yen: UP at 162.32 yen from 161.72 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 85.21 pence from 85.20 pence
© 2024 AFP
