London (AFP) – Oil prices rose and stock markets diverged Tuesday as uncertainty over the direction of the Middle East war dominated investor sentiment. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June — its most traded contract — rose 0.3 percent to $107.72 per barrel. The international benchmark’s contract for May, which expires Tuesday, stood at $115.17 per barrel, up 2.1 percent. Oil “remains painfully high for economies to deal with,” noted Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club.
Eurozone inflation leapt in March because of surging energy prices caused by the conflict, official data showed Tuesday, hitting its highest level since January 2025. Consumer prices rose by 2.5 percent in March, sharply up from 1.9 percent in February, the EU’s statistics agency said. Following the data, the European Commission urged EU member states to make “timely and coordinated preparations” to secure oil supplies. The head of a maritime analyst group meanwhile warned in an interview with AFP that Asia is confronting a major energy crisis, as it faces the gravest fallout from the war.
“We think Asia will, for now, be the ones suffering the most,” Kpler president Jean Maynier told AFP at the company’s offices in Singapore. He said the continent did not have enough energy resources of its own to cover the gap. “It will not be enough in China, it will not be enough to cover in big countries like the Philippines or Indonesia. So it’s a real energy crisis.”
Asia’s main stock markets closed mixed as investors weighed a report indicating that US President Donald Trump was willing to end the Iran war even if the key Strait of Hormuz remained closed. But he also threatened to strike the Islamic Republic’s energy infrastructure should it not make a deal. The Wall Street Journal cited administration officials as saying Trump and his aides had come to the conclusion that a mission to reopen the waterway would extend the length of the conflict past his four- to six-week timeline.
It added that he had decided to focus on battering Iran’s missiles and navy, before looking to pressure Iran diplomatically to reopen the strait, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil is normally transported. In a sign Trump will likely face pressure to act to bring crude prices down, the American Automobile Association said US petrol prices jumped above an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Market experts warned that any US ground operation or wider Iranian retaliation could send oil prices to levels not seen since July 2008, when Brent hit almost $150 per barrel.
“The question is no longer how high oil spikes, but how long elevated energy costs bleed into growth, margins, and consumption,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.
– Key figures at around 1030 GMT –
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $107.72 a barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 1.4 percent at $104.32 a barrel
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 10,196.59 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,812.67
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.7 percent at 22,715.01
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.6 percent at 51,063.72 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 24,788.14 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,891.86 (close)
New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 45,216.14 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1468 from $1.1460 on Monday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3209 from $1.3183
Dollar/yen: FLAT at 159.69 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.83 pence from 86.93 pence
burs-bcp/ajb/jxb
© 2024 AFP
