Asia-Pacific markets rise in Easter trade on hopes for Hormuz reopening
Asia-Pacific markets traded higher on Friday after reports that Iran and Oman have drafted a protocol to “monitor transit” in the Strait of Hormuz, raising hopes the critical waterway could be partially reopened.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister for law and international relations, Kazem Garibabadi, said tanker traffic on the key oil shipping route “must be supervised and coordinated” with the two countries, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA.
Oil prices rose on Thursday before markets closed for the Good Friday holiday. US crude futures It traded at $112.06 per barrel, up almost 12%. global reference Brent It rose around 8% to $109.24.
The spot price for existing physical cargoes of Brent crude rose to $141.36 on Thursday, the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, according to S&P Global.
South Korea’s kospi It led gains in the region, rising 2.73%, while small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.09%.
of japan Nikkei 225 rose 1.31%, driven by non-cyclical consumer stocks, and the broad-based Topix rose 1.08%, boosted by energy stocks.
The CSI 300 index in mainland China increased by 0.31 percent.
Australian and Hong Kong markets were closed for the Easter weekend.
US futures were little changed; S&P 500 futures were flat while Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.07%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9 points, or 0.02%.
Overnight markets in the US saw a choppy session driven by rising oil prices, but the major indexes were little changed, ending with the blue-chip Dow down 61.07 points, or 0.13%.
The S&P 500 gained 0.11%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.18%.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger, Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
