Hong Kong (AFP) – Oil prices extended gains Friday and stocks struggled as investors worried about a lack of progress in ending the Middle East crisis, with Tehran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and the US maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports. A week that started with hopes the two sides would eventually hold peace talks was set to end on a negative note, with Donald Trump saying he had “all the time in the world” despite fears about the impact of the war on the global economy.
With few developments to fuel buying, traders took a cautious approach heading into the weekend and ahead of a slew of earnings next week from Wall Street titans including Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple. Crude has jumped about a fifth in the past week, having tumbled last week to one-month lows on optimism that a peace agreement would be reached. Both main contracts rose more than one percent Friday, having advanced around three percent the day before, with Iran refusing to join talks while the US blockade remained in place.
Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to announce: “I have all the time in the World, but Iran doesn’t — The clock is ticking!” He added that Iran’s military was destroyed and “their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse.” He also vowed the United States would destroy any vessel laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz but ruled out striking the country with a nuclear weapon, saying they “should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”
Meanwhile, US military officials said the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier had arrived in the Middle East, bringing the number of the massive American warships operating in the region to three. The standoff weighed on equity markets, with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Wellington, and Jakarta all down. Tokyo, Taipei, and Manila edged up.
“Market confidence has started to shift into a more cautious phase, as new comments from Iran suggest that a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is not possible while US blockades remain in place,” wrote Julian Pineda, market analyst at City Index. “So far, no meaningful progress has been made in negotiations, with both sides maintaining relatively firm positions, leaving the short-term outlook unclear. This situation is starting to dampen the steady rise in market confidence seen in recent weeks.”
Still, there was some good news as Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would be extended for three weeks. “I think there’s a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one,” he told reporters Thursday during a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors. He added that he plans to meet with top leadership from both countries in the next couple of weeks. The war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a key sticking point in Washington and Tehran finding a breakthrough.
– Key Figures at 0230 GMT –
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $96.92 a barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.1 percent at $106.26 a barrel
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Up 0.3 percent at 59,343.40 (break)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 25,715.74
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 4,071.52
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1681 from $1.1684 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3465
Dollar/yen: UP at 159.79 yen from 159.72 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 86.78 pence from 86.76 pence
New York – Dow Jones: DOWN 0.4 percent at 49,310.32 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,457.01 (close)
© 2024 AFP
