OIL prices eased on Monday as investors balanced hopes for the crucial Strait of Hormuz reopening with concerns over further attacks on energy infrastructure.
As the Middle East war entered its third week, most European stocks climbed while Asian stocks mainly fell. International benchmark Brent North Sea crude was up just 0.1 per cent — after rising about three per cent earlier in the day — and the main US contract West Texas Intermediate shed more than one per cent. That came as a non-Iranian oil tanker transited the Strait of Hormuz with its automatic transponder system activated, despite major disruption to shipping in the crucial waterway, according to monitor Marine Traffic.
US President Donald Trump piled pressure on world powers over the weekend to help reopen the vital shipping lane choked off by Iranian attacks.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was working with allies to come up with a “viable” plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has declared closed to US and US-allied traffic. Germany meanwhile said the war in the Middle East, started by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has “nothing to do with NATO. “The situation is not close to being resolved but investors seem reassured by signs of action,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
The London, Paris and Frankfurt stock markets rose on Monday, but analysts warned that market sentiment remained fragile.
In Asia, Tokyo and Shanghai closed lower, while Hong Kong rose. During Asian trading hours, crude had climbed further above $100 a barrel after attacks on oil infrastructure on the UAE’s east coast and strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS his country was not interested in talks with Washington, but was ready to speak to countries about safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The two sides continued to exchange fire Monday, with Saudi Arabia saying it had intercepted more than 60 drones since midnight, while flights were temporarily suspended at Dubai’s airport after a “drone-related incident” sparked a fire nearby.
AFP
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