Asian markets rebounded in early trading Thursday following losses the day before after Iran launched a missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq.
Tensions decreased significantly Wednesday amid signs of de-escalation, as President Donald Trump said Iran “appears to be standing down” and announced fresh sanctions rather than immediate military action. Trump said the United States is “ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.”
U.S. stocks recovered after shaky pre-market trading, with the Nasdaq closing at a new record and the S&P 500 hitting an intraday record.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, +2.13%
surged 2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
HSI, +1.14%
rose 1%. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, +0.51%
advanced 0.5% and the Shenzhen Composite
399106, +1.13%
ticked up 1%. South Korea’s Kospi
180721, +1.19%
rose 1% and benchmark indexes in Taiwan
Y9999, +1.18%
, Singapore
STI, +0.06%
and Indonesia
JAKIDX, +0.23%
gained. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO, +0.68%
advanced 0.6%.
Among individual stocks, Screen Holdings
7735, +5.96%
surged in Tokyo trading, while Yahoo Japan parent Z Holdings
4689, +5.08%
, SoftBank
9984, +4.41%
and Honda
7267, +1.26%
also rose. In Hong Kong, Apple component makers Sunny Optical
2382, +4.69%
and AAC
2018, +2.59%
gained, while PetroChina
857, -1.69%
fell as oil prices receded Wednesday. Samsung
005930, +2.46%
jumped in South Korea, while in Australia, Beach Energy
BPT, -2.04%
fell and Rio Tinto
RIO, +1.31%
advanced.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index
SPX, +0.49%
rose 0.5% to 3,253.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.56%
advanced 0.6% to 28,745.09. The Nasdaq composite
COMP, +0.67%
rose 0.7% to a record 9,129.24.
Oil prices rebounded Thursday after first surging on news of the Iranian attack and then falling back once tensions appeared to be easing.
Benchmark U.S. crude
CLG20, +0.86%
gained 48 cents to $60.09 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract fell $3.09 to settle at $59.61. It traded as high as $65.65 following the missile attack.
Brent crude
BRNH20, +0.73%
, used to price international oils, advanced 44 cents to $65.88 per barrel in London. It fell $2.83 the previous session to $65.44.
Gold
GCG20, -0.04%
had a similar whipsaw day. It climbed as high as $1,604.20 per ounce before settling at $1,560.10.
In currency trading, the dollar
USDJPY, +0.08%
gained to 109.20 yen from Wednesday’s 109.08 yen.
Source : MTV
